MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — When U.S. President Barack Obama mentioned Bahrain as one of the Middle East’s flashpoints of sectarian conflict, the Shiite-led opposition in the Gulf nation cheered and the kingdom’s Western-backed Sunni rulers went on the defensive.

Bahrain’s leadership said last week that the Arab Spring’s smallest showdown had threatened to divide the island but insisted that the rifts were healing after nearly 32 months of clashes and simmering unrest.

The past days in Bahrain, however, suggest a different trajectory. A series of prison sentences — including a mass trial of 50 suspected backers of a militant cell — and the largest protest march in months all signal little progress toward reconciliation.