Bahraini authorities banned on Tuesday a rally aimed at protesting the harsh sentences against medics and activists.
Bahraini authorities banned on Tuesday a rally aimed at protesting the harsh sentences against medics and activists.
The head of Public Security, Major General Tareq Mubarak bin Daina, turned down the request by Bahrain's main opposition group Al-Wefaq to organize a "human chain" protest in Manama, BNA state news agency said.
The security chief said the location for the protest, which had been planned to take place outside the offices of Al-Wefaq in Zinj, west of Manama, "is not suitable security-wise."
He said the protest "could cause traffic bottlenecks... while it will be difficult for organizers and security bodies to control the human chain, which might affect the safety of participants and those using the road."
Bin Daina ordered security measures to ban the event, BNA said.
For its part, al-Wefaq slammed the ban, describing it as illegal and an indication of constraints on the freedom of expression.
In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the party said: “human chain for solidarity with the prisoners of conscience and medics" was planned to take place in a secondary road and not on the artery cited in the ban.
Earlier on Monday, a special court sentences more 36 demonstrators to life, or 25 years in prison.
The court sentenced fourteen protesters to life, or 25 years in prison, claiming they were convicted of beating to death a Pakistani "with a terrorist aim", as well as "assembling for riots", the prosecutor Yusof Fleifel said, quoted by BNA state news agency.
Another 15 were sentenced, in a second case, to 15 years in jail after “being found guilty of attempting to murder military personnel, in addition to taking part in protests and vandalism at Bahrain University in Manama”, it said.
The third case involved seven university students, six of whom were jailed 15 years, while another was sentenced to 18 years, over charges including attempted murder targeting several people at the university.
