Bahrain Jails 29 Shiites for Attack on Police

A Bahraini court on Wednesday jailed 29 Shiites for up to 10 years for an attack on a police center in April 2012, a judicial source said.

Twenty-six of those convicted were handed 10-year prison terms and three others jailed for three years, the source said.

The prosecution accused the defendants of attacking a police center in the village of Sitra, south of Manama, with petrol bombs and iron rods, wounding a policeman.

The defendants claimed in court that they were tortured and their confessions obtained under duress, the source said.

Bahrain, home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, remains deeply divided since after a quashed 2011 Shiite-led uprising, with persistent protests sparking clashes with police, scores of Shiites jailed on "terror" charges and reconciliation talks deadlocked.

Authorities in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom last year increased the penalties for those convicted of violence, introducing the death penalty or life sentences in certain cases.