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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Bahrain's state news agency says a court has stripped five people linked to radical Shiite groups of their citizenship and ordered them jailed after convicting them on terrorism charges.
The Bahrain News Agency reported Monday that two unnamed defendants were sentenced to three and ten years over activities related to involvement in the Al-Wafa'a Islamic Party, which has called for the downfall of Bahrain's Sunni monarchy. Three others were sentenced to 15 years for their involvement in another group known as the Mukhtar Brigades.
Bahrain has faced years of low-level unrest, including occasional deadly bombings, following a 2011 Arab Spring-inspired uprising led by the country's Shiite majority.
The government's decision to strip the citizenship of a prominent Shiite cleric, Sheikh Isa Qassim, sparked protests by his supporters last week.
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