ABU DHABI: Bahraini rights activist Zainab Al Khawaja has been sentenced to three months in jail for insulting a public employee after an appeal court overturned her earlier acquittal, state news agency (BNA) said yesterday.
The kingdom, base for the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has been in political turmoil since protests erupted there in 2011, led by majority Shias demanding an end to the Sunni monarchy’s political domination and full powers for parliament. Khawaja is the daughter of prominent Shia human rights activist Abdulhadi Al Khawaja who was a leading figure in the 2011 uprising and who is now serving a life sentence.
Bahrain’s public prosecutor had charged Khawaja with “insulting a public employee while on duty”, BNA said. The appeals court has previously sentenced Khawaja to one one-month and one two-month jail term in two other cases for entering a prohibited military zone and damaging state-owned property, the state news agency said.
Four killed in blasts at Somali restaurant
MOGADISHU: At least four people were killed and several wounded in twin attacks at a restaurant on the popular beachfront of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, witnesses and police said yesterday. The blasts, the latest in a string of attacks in the war-ravaged city, were reportedly caused by a suicide attacker wearing a vest packed with explosives, followed by a car bomb. “The man blew himself up when guards at the restaurant entrance tried to stop him... at least three people including the bomber died,” said Hersi Adan, a security official who was near the scene of the attack.
“A few minutes later a car parked outside of the building exploded killing another and wounding seven.”Agencies
