Press TV- A court in Bahrain upholds a one-year jail term for prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Isa Qassim, whohas been stripped of his nationality by the Al Khalifah regimeand confirmsthedecision to revoke the cleric's citizenship.
A legal source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Bahrains Supreme Court confirmed the same ruling for two of the 81-year-old cleric's aides, Sheikh Hussein Mahrus and Mirza al-Obaidli.
On May 21 last year, a Bahraini courtconvicted Sheikh Qassim of illegal collection of funds and money laundering, and sentencedhim to one year in jail suspended for three years.
Italso ordered him to pay $265,266in fines.The court ruling sparked widespread demonstrations across the kingdom.
Bahraini authorities stripped the cleric of his citizenship on June 20, 2016. They later dissolved the Islamic Enlightenment Institution, founded by him,in addition to the opposition al-Risala Islamic Association.
United Nations spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, demanded last November that the top Shia cleric be released, and asked for immediate medical attention for him.
Bahraini regime deports two Shia brothers to Iraq
Meanwhile, Bahraini officials have deported two Shia brothers to Iraq as the ruling Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy-handed crackdown and persecution of the members of the religious community in the country.
Human rights activists published the pictures of Ibrahim and Ismail Darwish in Iraq's holycity of Najafhours after deportation from Iraq.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] Bahraini Shia brothers Ibrahim and Ismail Darwish (file photo)[/caption]
Bahraini monarch, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah, stripped a number of citizens, including the two brothers, of their nationality back in November 2012.
Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country in mid-February 2011.
They are demanding that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.
Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of the Al Khalifah regimes crackdown.
On March 5, 2017, Bahrainsparliamentapproved the trial of civilians at military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being tantamount to imposition of an undeclared martial law countrywide. King Hamad ratified the constitutional amendment on April 3 last year.