DUBAI: A Bahraini court has sentenced 12 people to up to 15 years in prison after they took part in a jailbreak earlier

this year.

Two inmates who escaped from Jau prison in April were jailed for 15 years along with four accomplices, Northern Governorate Attorney General Hussain

Al Bouali said in a statement on Tuesday’s sentencing.

The others received prison terms ranging from five to seven years, according to the statement published by the official BNA news agency. Seven of the defendants, including the two inmates who escaped, were also convicted of possessing “unlicenced” weapons.

The pair were being held over their alleged involvement in Shia-led protests in early 2011 that were crushed by the government. They were caught two days after their escape, which prompted the dismissal of the Gulf kingdom’s prisons chief.

AFP