DUBAI — A Bahraini appeals court on Wednesday overturned death and prison sentences issued earlier to protesters for their role in a pro-democracy uprising, a defense lawyer said. Bahrain has been shaken by unrest since February 2011 following demonstrations that called for reforms. The High Criminal Court of Appeals commuted the death sentence issued last year for two men convicted of killing two policemen, Kashif Ahmed Manzur and Mohammed Farouk Abdulsamad, to life in prison, lawyer Mohammed Al-Jishi said. The court commuted the life sentences for two others involved in the same case to 15 years in jail, he said. The court also cut to 15 years in prison the life sentences issued in October 2011 for 13 men for killing a Pakistan citizen during the protests, Al-Jishi said. One man was set free. “I don't view these sentences as being reduced,” said Al-Jishi, who defended seven people in the murder of the Pakistani national's case. “I think that if the court had applied the recommendations of the independent human rights commission the other 13 would have been acquitted.” The appeals court also reduced sentences of 15 years in prison that were handed last year to 15 people for the attempted murder of a soldier, vandalizing the buildings at the University of Bahrain and “inciting hatred of the ruling system”, Al-Jishi said. The new sentences vary between three, five and seven years in jail. — Reuters
