Bahrain executes 3 pro democracy activists

Manama/ London: Monarchial regime in Bahrain Sunday executed three pro-democracy activists sparking outrage among the majority population in the tiny Persian Gulf state.

Abbas al-Samea, 27, Sami Mushaima, 42, and Ali al-Singace, 21 were executed by a firing squad early on Sunday, state run BNA news agency said.

The executions came less than a week after the country's highest court confirmed the punishment against the three activists who were accused of killing a member of Emirati forces, part of Saudi led force that led a crackdown on pro democracy Bahraini protesters back in March 2014.

Seven other convicts have also been sentenced to life in prison in the case.

Angry demonstrations rocked many areas including Diraz, Bani Jamra and Sanabis as the news of executions spread.

Outraged public marched across the capital Manama and the northeastern villages of Nuwaidrat and al-Dair after the morning prayers, the London-based Bahraini opposition television network Lualua reported.

Regime forces tried to disperse the protesters by firing pellets and teargas canisters and injuring a number of the demonstrators, reports said

Maya Foa, the director of the death penalty team at Reprieve, said: "It is nothing short of an outrage and a disgraceful breach of international law that Bahrain has gone ahead with these executions. The confessions were extracted through torture and the trial was an utter sham.

"These executions were as inflammatory as they were unjust," said Nicholas McGeehan, senior Bahrain researcher for Human Rights Watch, which opposes the death penalty. "These men's convictions were based on retracted confessions and mired in allegations of serious torture."

The three men had been charged with being part of al-Ashtar Brigade which Manama alleges has the aim of carrying out terrorist attacks.

Mushaima and Samea were arrested three hours after the bombing incident. It is also claimed by their supporters that Samea was subjected to beatings, electric shocks, and deprivation of food and water.

BNA said the men were executed by firing squad in the presence of a judge, a doctor and a Muslim cleric. When their families went to see the men for the last time, they were subjected to police intimidation, it is claimed.

Kingdom's troops, mostly drawn from neighbouring countries, including far away Pakistan,  also prevented people from holding a funeral procession for those executed.

The Arab spring demonstrations were crushed by the regime forces. The clampdown has cost scores of lives. 

Later during the popular uprising, the regime called in Saudi and Emirati reinforcements to help it muffle dissent. 

The island kingdom of Bahrain, off the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf, is a longstanding ally of the United States and hosts the Navy's Fifth Fleet. 

Over the past four years, the UK has spent millions training Bahraini police. The UK insists it is working to improve the judicial and police system, but critics say the money has turned largely into a front so Britain can expand a naval base in Bahrain largely funded by Manama. 

In the past year, Bahrain has instituted a crackdown on pro-democracy movement - imprisoning the most senior rights campaigner, closing the main opposition group, al-Wefaq, and revoking the citizenship of the country's spiritual leader. 

Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy called on Britain to institute a complete arms ban until human rights changes have been implemented. 

He said Bahrain was becoming a security threat to the region. 

Iran, a sharp critic of kingdom, called the punishments "reckless".  "Bahrain's government has demonstrated that it does not seek a peaceful resolution and a way out out of the crisis," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi, quoted by the official news agency IRNA.