Alwaght- Eighteen opposition figures were sentenced to long term prisons by Bahraini courts.
Bahraini Appeal courts upheld prison terms previously issued in primary hearings in a new round of crackdown on opposition groups.
A 23-year- old Bahraini protester was sentenced to five years in prison for blocking police cars on their way to raid a demonstration, Bahrain Mirror news site reported.
The court also upheld five years prison terms for nine other protestors claiming they had beaten a police officer and attended a gathering of more than five people.
Another one was sentenced to prison on charges of setting tires on fire and spreading terror among civilians.
The Supreme Court also upheld sentences of seven years in prison against six people for taking part in the gathering of more than five people.
The developments come as human rights organizations have cast doubts on the independence of the Bahraini judiciary while all the defendants’ confessions seem to have been obtained under torture.
Bahraini security forces crack downed on opposition groups who began their democracy-seeking demonstrations in 2011 calling for equity for the majority Shiite population. Civil demonstrations were suppressed Al Khalifa regime cultivating in a deadly night raid on 17 February 2011 against protesters at the Pearl Roundabout in Manama known locally as Bloody Thursday.