MANAMA (Reuters) ? Bahrain sentenced eight prominent Shi'ite Muslim activists and opposition leaders to life in prison on Wednesday on charges of plotting a coup during protests in the Gulf island kingdom earlier this year.
The sentencing stoked tensions in the kingdom, where small groups of demonstrators have mounted daily protests since emergency law was lifted on June 1, and may also undermine a national dialogue planned by King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa to start next month.
"No dialogue with al-Khalifa! We demand the release of the prisoners" shouted some 100 protesters in one village near the capital Manama, before riot police broke up the demonstration.
In all 21 defendants, six of them tried in absentia, were charged with plotting to overthrow the government by force in collusion with "a terrorist organization" working for a foreign country. They can appeal the sentences.
Seconds after the verdict was issued, one of the defendants lined up in grey prison suits shouted: "We will continue our peaceful struggle." Other defendants responded by shaking their fists and shouting "peaceful, peaceful."
Police officers hustled them out of the courtroom, as relatives of some of the defendants responded by chanting "God is great," and one woman was dragged out of the chamber.
Among those who received life sentences was Shi'ite dissident Hassan Mushaimaa, leader of the hardline opposition group Haq, and Abduljalil al-Singace, from the same party. Haq joined two other groups in calling for the overthrow of the monarchy during mass protests in February and March.
Abdel Wahab Hussain, head of Wafa, another group that called for a republic, was also given a life sentence. Ibrahim Sharif, Sunni Muslim leader of the secular leftist Waad party, received five years in prison. Waad and Bahrain's largest Shi'ite opposition group Wefaq had called for reform of the monarchy.
Danish-Bahraini citizen Abdulhady al-Khawaja, a rights activist, also received a life sentence, in the presence of several foreign diplomats who said the Danish embassy had not been granted access to Khawaja.
The United States criticized the sentences in the U.S.-allied kingdom.
"We are concerned about the severity of the sentences handed down," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. "We're also concerned about the use of military courts to try these civilians."
PROTESTERS OUTRAGED
Bahrain's Sunni rulers, backed by forces from neighboring Sunni Gulf Arab states, crushed weeks of protests in March mostly by members of the Shi'ite majority. Manama says the protests had a sectarian agenda backed by Shi'ite power Iran.
The opposition denies being steered by Iran, and argues the charges aim to distract the United States, which has its Navy's Fifth Fleet in the country, from activists' calls for democratic reform.
Helicopters buzzed above Shi'ite villages and police armed with sound grenades and tear gas rushed from area to area to snuff out protests. Residents of some villages said they had stopped demonstrations due to the heavy police deployment.
In the island of Sitra, a hotspot for protests, youths blocked police cars by strewing cinder blocks, nails and wooden cupboards along windy village roads.
"I was furious at the nerve of the ruling family that they would give life sentences and then ask us to go to talks," said one female protester named Maryam. "They were our symbols and the government chose to crush them. What does that say for us?"
Young men behind her regrouped in an hours-long cat and mouse game with police shouting, "Down, down (King) Hamad."
Government officials, who were not immediately available for comment, have said Bahrain is trying a small percentage of protesters who the state has evidence of committing a crime.
Some observers have suggested King Hamad may try to cool tensions before the dialogue by granting a general amnesty to many of those jailed in recent trials.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Wefaq said: "They will cast a shadow on stability in the country, these sentences will create an eternal political crisis without a quick and active political solution."
Earlier at a news conference, Wefaq spokesman Khalil al-Marzouq said Wefaq would not meet the government's Thursday deadline for responding to the invitation to dialogue, and could not say if Wefaq would ultimately attend.
"Those people are a critical portion of the movement. How can there be a dialogue while they are in prison?" he said.
(Additional reporting by Tabsssum Zakaria in Washington; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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