Bahrain executes 3, sparking protests

This undated photo released by Bahrain Center for Human Rights, from left to right, shows Sami Mushaima, Ali Al-Singace and Abbas Al-Samea, who were convicted guilty in deadly police bombing and executed this morning in Bahrain.
This undated photo released by Bahrain Center for Human Rights, from left to right, shows Sami Mushaima, Ali Al-Singace and Abbas Al-Samea, who were convicted guilty in deadly police bombing and executed this morning in Bahrain.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Bahrain on Sunday carried out its first executions since the Arab Spring uprising in 2011, putting to death three men found guilty of a deadly bomb attack on police.

The executions of the Shiite men drew swift condemnation from human-rights groups and ponents of the Sunni-ruled government, who see the charges as politically motivated. Activists have reported that testimony used against the condemned men was obtained through torture.

Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in several predominantly Shiite communities to protest the executions.

The rallies at times turned violent as youths hurled projectiles and gasoline bombs while police responded with birdshot and tear gas, witnesses said. The sound of gunfire could be heard into the night. The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

Bahrain's office of public prosecution said the death sentences were carried out by firing squad. Photos shared by activists purporting to show the bodies of the men showed a tight grouping of multiple gunshot wounds to the heart.

The executions were the first in the U.S.-allied nation since 2010 and followed an increase in protests in solidarity with the convicted men.

Bahrain's state news agency released a lengthy statement Sunday, describing a wide-ranging plot against the officers as well as the court deliberations that had preceded the executions. It said the men -- identified by rights groups as Ali al-Singace, 21, Abbas al-Samea, 27, and Sami Mushaima, 42 -- had planted an explosive device in March 2014, then "lured the policemen and detonated it," killing three and wounding 13 others.

A report on the case by Amnesty International, citing statements by some of the men, said they had no access to families or lawyers during their initial, three-week-long interrogations.

Mushaima and Samea "later told their families that they were given electric shocks, beaten, burnt with cigarettes, deprived of sleep, and sexually assaulted," the report said.

A court upheld their death sentences last week.

Bahrain is a tiny island nation off the coast of Saudi Arabia that hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which patrols the waters around the Arabian Peninsula and is the naval counterweight to nearby Shiite powerhouse Iran.

Government forces crushed the 2011 uprising with help from allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but the country continues to face low-level unrest led by a majority Shiite population that says it is marginalized by the Sunni monarchy.

Bahrain also maintains close ties to Britain, which is building a naval base of its own in the country. Over the past two and a half months, Prince Charles, Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson have all visited the island.

Johnson made a point of underscoring Britain's opposition to the death penalty hours after the sentences were carried out.

"The Bahraini authorities are fully aware of our position and I have raised the issue with the Bahraini government," he said in a statement.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets Saturday in solidarity with the condemned men as rumors spread that their executions were imminent.

Protests and clashes continued Sunday despite a heavy presence of riot police deployed in predominantly Shiite areas. Witnesses said shops were shuttered in Daih, where the 2014 bombing happened. Garbage bins were seen overturned and set on fire in the streets.

One police officer was wounded when several people shot at a police patrol in Bani Jamra, west of the capital Manama, the Interior Ministry said. It gave no further details.

The Ashtar Brigade, a Shiite militant group that claimed the 2014 police attack and a number of other bombings in Bahrain, took responsibility for the attack on the police officer on social media. The Associated Press could not immediately verify the post, though it came in a forum often used by the group.

Iran, which supported the 2011 uprising but denies any role in the violence, condemned the executions.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Shiite group Hezbollah also condemned the execution of the three men, calling it "a crime" and an"extrajudicial killing" that would undermine any chance for a political solution in Bahrain.

The militant group, which has been critical of the Bahraini government's crackdown on the Shiite uprising, said international silence toward what takes place in Bahrain must be met with the "largest solidarity campaign."

Information for this article was contributed by Adam Schreck, Jon Gambrell, Sarah El Deeb and Amir Vahdat of The Associated Press and Kareem Fahim of The Washington Post.

A Section on 01/16/2017

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