Protests in Manama after Saudi Arabia executes two Bahrainis on 'terror' charges

Angry protests erupted in Bahrain on Monday against the execution of two Bahraini nationals by Saudi Arabia.

The two Bahrainis, Jafaar Sultan and Sadiq Thamer, were executed on Monday morning for "joining a terrorist cell led by a man wanted in Bahrain" aimed at "destabilising Saudi Arabia and Bahrain", according to Saudi media. The executions took place in Saudi’s Shia-majority eastern region. 

The men had been detained since 2015, with Amnesty reporting that their arrest was "arbitrary" and that their confessions were extracted by torture.  

Protests erupted in the Bahraini capital of Manama, with protesters chanting "Death to the House of Saud" and "Death to Al Khalifa", referring to the ruling families of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain respectively.

The demonstrations carried on into the night, with protesters claiming the two executed men were murdered for sectarian reasons.  

قلوبنا معكم وعظم الله لكم الآجر يا أهل البحرين

بعين الله هذا المصاب وعين صاحب الزمان #البحرين_مفجوعه pic.twitter.com/MyOanLHjc3

— بومهدي (@Abu_mehdi3) May 29, 2023

Bahrain's Shia opposition group Al-Wefaq, which operates clandestinely after it was outlawed for its support for the failed 2011 Bahrain uprising, wrote on Facebook that the "Saudi regime is committing a crime by executing Jafar Sultan and Sadiq Thamer".

An uprising took place in Bahrain in 2011, as part of a wider "Arab Spring" which shook the Middle East and North Africa. It called for a constitutional monarchy and democratic reforms.

After a month of large-scale protests, the movement was crushed by direct military intervention from the Saudi-led "Peninsula Shield Force", which also included the UAE and Kuwait, on behalf of the Al Khalifa ruling family. 

Bahrain is a Shia-majority country but the Al Khalifas and most of the country's ruling elite are Sunni.

Saudi Arabia remains one of the worst states in the world for the death penalty, with more than 1,000 death sentences carried out by the kingdom since King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud assumed the throne in 2015.