BREAKING NEWS

Bahrain says opposition activists spied for Iran

By REUTERS

OCTOBER 1, 2013 15:47

DUBAI - Some of the 50 people jailed in Bahrain on Sunday for security offences were also convicted of spying for Iran and had planned "vandalism and rioting" with the backing of the Islamic Republic, the Bahraini government said.

The 50 were sentenced to between five and 15 years in jail for links to February 14, an opposition movement seen by the authorities as a terrorist group working to overthrow the government, activists said on Sunday.

The Gulf Arab kingdom, base for the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, has been in political turmoil since protests erupted in 2011 led by majority Shi'ite Muslims demanding full powers for parliament and an end to the Sunni monarchy's political domination.

Bahrain has accused Shi'ite Iran, seen as a regional troublemaker by several Gulf states, of fuelling the unrest, an accusation Tehran has denied.

In a statement, the government said the 50 were charged with founding and operating "a terrorist group with the goal of undermining the rules of the constitution and laws as well as preventing the institutions and public authorities from doing their work".

In addition, some of them had been convicted of spying for foreign states and their agents, or seeking to do so, with the aim of carrying out aggressive actions against the kingdom, it said, without specifying how many defendants this involved.

"It has been proved that they have spied for the Islamic Republic of Iran, and have been in touch with senior leadership and members of the Revolutionary Guards and supplied them with information related to the internal situation in the kingdom," the statement said.

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