Bahrain Reports Arrest of 8 Individuals 'Attempting to Escape to Iran'

Bahrain has reported the arrest of 8 individuals who were attempting to escape to Iran. Reuters reported on Sunday, June 6, that these eight men were apprehended by the Bahraini Coast Guard while trying to flee by boat to Iran. The official Bahraini news agency also stated that two other men, referred to as 'refugees', had planned the escape of these individuals from Bahrain while in Iran. The eight men mentioned have been convicted in absentia in Bahrain and each sentenced to 10-15 years in prison. Meanwhile, the names of six prisoners who reportedly escaped from a prison in Bahrain on Friday are not among the eight arrested. On that Friday, a total of 17 individuals escaped from Bahraini detention facilities, but eleven of them were captured by the police. Thousands of Bahraini Shia are imprisoned on charges ranging from participating in protests against the Bahraini government to armed attacks against security forces in the western region where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based. Shia protesters claim that the Bahraini government discriminates against them. Concurrently with what was termed the Arab Spring, Bahrain also witnessed widespread protests by Shia protesters in 2011. These protests were suppressed with the military presence of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states. Bahrain, home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, has experienced periodic unrest since the Shia protests in 2011, which called for political reforms and greater participation in governance. John Kirby, spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, called on the Bahraini government on Tuesday, June 1, to lift all charges against Sheikh Ali Salman, the leader of the Shia protesters, and release him. Sheikh Ali Salman, a prominent Shia cleric in Bahrain, was sentenced to four years in prison last June on charges of inciting unrest. His defense lawyers stated in September that prosecutors submitted part of his distorted statements as evidence to court and requested a retrial for him.