Anti-regime demonstrators in Bahrain have once again taken to the streets to denounce the recent death sentences handed down to three people on the charge of killing policemen.

On Saturday, the demonstrators rallied through the streets of the northern villages of al-Daih and al-Musalla, both located west of the capital, Manama, in protest at the court ruling.

The protesters also renewed calls for the release of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Ali Salman, the secretary general of Bahrain’s main opposition bloc al-Wefaq National Islamic Society.

Salman was arrested late last year on charges of seeking regime change and collaborating with foreign powers.  

On February 26, the Bahraini supreme criminal court sentenced three people to death and seven others to life in prison after convicting them of being behind a bomb attack that led to the death of three police officers, one of whom from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in the village of al-Daih on March 3, 2014.

The court also revoked the Bahraini citizenship of eight defendants.

This is while no group claimed responsibility for the March 2014 explosion, which occurred at a time when Bahraini troops were dispersing the people mourning an an anti-regime activist, who had died in prison a few days earlier.

Al-Wefaq has also condemned the death penalties, saying such “void” rulings were issued based on the defendants’ confessions under torture, and through hearings lacking the principles of a fair trial.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations on the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa family to relinquish power.

YH/MKA/HMV