January 28, 2019
DEFEND OUR VALUES:
Bahrain upholds life sentences for opposition leaders (Deutsche-Welle, 1/28/19)
Sheikh Ali Salman, the secretary-general of the outlawed Al-Wefaq political party, on Monday lost his appeal against a life sentence before Bahrain's highest court.The supreme court upheld the verdict against Salman and two other exiled Al-Wefaq leaders accused of spying for estranged neighbor Qatar.Sheikh Hassan Ali Juma Sultan and Ali Mahdi Ali al-Aswad were jailed for life in absentia last November, overturning their previous acquittals.Al-Wefaq -- dissolved by court order in 2016 -- had had links to Bahrain's Shiite Muslim minority and had campaigned for reforms in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom until crushed in 2011 by a Saudi-led intervention.Amnesty International described Monday's verdicts as "yet another nail in the coffin for the right to freedom of expression in Bahrain and exposes the country's justice system as a complete farce."
Except, of course, that it is majority Shi'a. We should punish both its government and the Sa'uds.
Posted by Orrin Judd at January 28, 2019 12:27 PM