Bahrain Opposition Leader Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/17/world/middleeast/bahrain-opposition-leader-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison.html

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BAGHDAD — A court in Bahrain sentenced the leader of the country’s largest opposition movement to four years in prison on Tuesday, reflecting an escalating push by the government to silence dissident voices in the island kingdom.

The leader, Sheikh Ali Salman, who is the secretary general of the Shiite opposition party Al Wefaq, was arrested in December after making speeches that amounted to calls for political reform, according to his supporters and human rights groups. He was convicted on charges that included “publicly inciting hatred” and “insulting public institutions” in his sermons and speeches, according to a statement Tuesday by Bahrain’s state news agency.

The crackdown in Bahrain has lasted for years, since a pro-democracy uprising in 2011 led by the Shiite majority demanding broader political rights and a constitutional monarchy from the country’s Sunni rulers. Thousands of dissidents have spent time in prison or been forced into exile. In a growing number of cases, government opponents have been stripped of citizenship and rendered stateless.

But Mr. Salman — who represented a movement that once held nearly half the seats in Parliament — was the most senior opposition figure ensnared so far. The decision to jail him reflected the government’s unwillingness to bend to appeals, from inside the kingdom and abroad, to pursue political reform and negotiate at least with its mainstream opponents as a way of quieting more violent protests.

The prosecution of Mr. Salman unnerved even some of Bahrain’s Western allies that have been largely supportive of the monarchy. The Obama administration, which views Bahrain as a strategic ally as the home of the Navy’s Fifth Fleet, voiced concern at the time of Mr. Salman’s arrest that it would “inflame tensions,” without calling for his release.

In a statement, Al Wefaq, the opposition group, said that the verdict was part of a “security campaign against every person demanding legitimate rights,” and that the court “ruled against the majority of the people of Bahrain that adopt Salman’s path in demanding democratic transition, justice and dignity.”