Bahrain's King Sheikh Hamad Pardons Protesters
Nji Che - All Headline News African Correspondent Manama, Bahrain (AHN) - Bahraini King Sheikh Hamad has pardoned and issued orders to release protesters who were arrested last year during clashes at the Bahrain International Airport. The protesters were held after they clashed with police officers during an illegal march which turned into a riot on Dec. 25, 2005. The march was organized in protest to the brief detention of 46-year-old Sheikh Mohammed Sanad, a Bahraini religious leader, who was arrested and interrogated after he returned from Iran. About 40 people were detained after the incident. Twenty-two others were sentenced in February to at least one year in jail for taking part in the clashes. More than 150 protesters stormed the airport, calling on authorities to release Mohammed Sana, their religious leader. A spokesman for the families of those detained told Arab News, "It is still not clear when they will be released, we understand that the Ministry of Interior is finalizing the paper work to release them." But the spokesman maintained that, "We want to emphasize that they are innocent and should not have been arrested in the first place."
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