Manama: A Bahraini court on Tuesday sentenced nine defendants to 15 years in prison on charges of kidnapping a policeman.
The National Safety Court of First Instance said that the policeman, Mohammad Nayef Falah, was taken blindfolded to the house of one of the defendants where he was kept illegally and threatened.
The court acquitted three suspects, including one woman, in the case and transferred another suspect to a civil court.
In a separate case, the court sentenced four defendants to 10 years on charges of assaulting a policeman and kidnapping him.
The court said that the policeman, Saif Allah Mohammad Ebrahim, was forcibly taken to the former Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Roundabout, popularly known as the Pearl Roundabout, and recently re-named Al Farooq Junction after the six-sword monument was brought down in March.
The court said that the policeman was shown off to the crowd at the roundabout before he was taken to the Salmaniya Medical Complex where he was held.
Three suspects arrested in connection with the case were freed by the court.
In the third case, the court sentenced six defendants to ten years and eight to five years on charges that included inciting for the toppling of the political regime through the use of force, promoting illegal rallies, resisting the authorities, civil disobedience, going on strike and disseminating false information to undermine the regime.
Nine other suspects were acquitted in the case.
Under Bahrain's laws, all the verdicts can be appealed in the Court of Appeals and in the Court of Cassation.
The sentencing of the defendants occurred one day after the lower court pronounced verdicts in three different cases related to the unrest that hit the country in February and March.
