Bahrain’s King Hamad on Monday approved a constitutional amendment granting military courts The right to try civilians accused of terrorism, state news agency BNA said.
The amendment, approved unanimously by the upper house of parliament last month, drops a clause limiting military trials to members of the armed forces or other security branches
Bahrain’s rulers say the change is necessary to fight terrorism with a recent escalation of the persistent low-level unrest that followed the 2011 Arab Spring demonstrations.
They blame Iran for fomenting unrest among the Shiite population and funding militant cells in the kingdom.
Activists, however, warn the amendment will allow an undeclared state of martial law in the country.
Hundreds of protesters have been arrested in connection with protests since 2011.
Many of them, including high-profile activists and clerics, have been charged with acts of terrorism.
Bahrain’s top court on Monday reduced the jail sentence of Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, who has been in prison since 2014, a judicial source said.
The kingdom’s court of cassation reduced Salman’s sentence from nine to four years, the source said.
The court of cassation in October had ordered a retrial of the 51-year-old cleric, who headed the now-banned Al Wefaq Shiite opposition movement.
Salman was arrested on charges of inciting hatred and insulting the state in December 2014.
He was found guilty in July 2015 and sentenced to four years in jail.
An appeals court later more than doubled his jail term to nine years, after reversing an earlier acquittal on charges of calling for regime change by force.

Source: The National