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Sunday, Mar 17, 2013 5:00 PM UTC

Bahrain sentences 17 to 15 years for bombing

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Topics: From the Wires,

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — A lawyer in Bahrain says 17 suspected anti-government protesters have been sentenced to 15-year prison sentences for links to a bombing last year that injured four policemen.

At the time, the April 2012 blast was a stunning escalation in more than two years of unrest between Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy and the kingdom’s majority Shiites seeking a greater political voice.

Defense lawyer Jassim Sarhan said eight of the defendants are in custody, and the others were tried in absentia. The judgments Sunday are among the harshest sentences imposed for alleged protest-related violence, although some Shiite political leaders have received life sentences.

Sarhan said an appeal is planned.

Also Sunday, the official Bahrain News Agency said a blast from an explosive device in a mainly Shiite area injured an Asian worker.

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  • The protests take on a festive element as police forces move out of the park and square. Wearing a gas mask, this young man dances to traditional Turkish music in front of Taksim Square’s Ataturk Monument.

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