Alwaght- A Bahraini woman and her son were sentenced on Monday to three years in prison for planting a "fake bomb", activists said.
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, head of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), said his relatives were convicted based on confessions gained by torture and said the court was persecuting the family for his activism.
Alwadaei's mother-in-law Hajer Mansoor and brother-in-law Sayed Nizar Alwadaei were each sentenced to three years in jail for planting a "fake bomb," BIRD said, while his cousin Mahmood Marzooq was sentenced to a month and half for obtaining a knife.
All three have been in custody since March and were not in court for the sentencing.
Mr Alwadaei, who is based in Britain, said he believed the case against his relatives was motivated by his human rights work and especially a protest last year in which he took part against the attendance of Bahrain's king at a royal horse show in Britain.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have both issued statements condemning the verdict.
“Today’s sentencing of three of Sayed Alwadaei’s family members on trumped-up charges and after a grossly unfair trial is a blatant scheme by the authorities to punish the prominent Bahraini activist and pressure him to stop his peaceful criticism of the government,” said Samah Hadid, Middle East Campaigns director at Amnesty International.
“This is a clear attempt to muzzle Sayed Alwadaei from afar. It sends a chilling signal that no one is out of the Bahraini authorities’ reach and demonstrates that they are prepared to use whatever means necessary to crush dissent.
"Today's guilty verdict on dubious charges against three relatives of a human rights defender are testimony to Bahrain's comprehensive campaign to muzzle dissent," said Joe Stork, HRW's deputy Middle East director.
"Targeting family members to silence activists amounts to collective punishment," he said.
Protest rallies in Bahrain have continued on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising started in the kingdom in 2011. The protesters are demanding that the west-backed Al Khalifah tyrannical dynasty relinquish power.
Many innocent people have been killed and thousands of others injured in a harsh crackdown which is backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Over 4000 mostly Shiite Muslims have been incarcerated, including dozens of clerics and prominent political dissidents, languish behind bars for political reasons.
