Bahrain wants stiffer penalties for attacks on security forces

Following rise in violence ahead of uprising's 1st anniversary, Bahraini authorities move to make attacks on security personnel punishable by up to 15 years in jail

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Bahrain's interior minister has called for tougher penalties for attacks on security forces, the state news agency BNA reported, following a rise in sectarian violence ahead of the first anniversary of an uprising crushed with Saudi help.
Sheikh Rashed bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa said in a statement carried on BNA late on Saturday that Bahrain has seen a spike in violence targeting security men on duty and the use of Molotov cocktails against them.
"Targeting security men obliges me to seek greater legal protection for the public security personnel. Right now, there aren't sufficient legal deterring texts," Sheikh Rashed said.
"I believe that the crime of attacking security personnel is a felony punishable by up to 15 years in jail, and that should include perpetrators and inciters," he added.
He did not say what the current penalties were.
Street clashes between police and mainly Shiite protesters have intensified in the past month as the anniversary of the 14 February uprising for democratic reforms approaches.
Bahrain last year crushed protests led by its Shiite Muslim majority demanding an end to sectarian discrimination and limits to the authority of the Sunni ruling family, relying in part on backing from troops from fellow Sunni-led Gulf Arab states.
The island kingdom is dominated by the ruling Al-Khalifa dynasty, a Sunni family closely allied to other Gulf rulers, and a bulwark against Shiite Iran's influence in the Arabian Peninsula. It is also home to the US Fifth Fleet.
A government-commissioned inquiry last year found that security forces used excessive force to suppress protests, torturing detainees to get confessions.
The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), headed by international lawyers, said in November that 35 people, including protesters and security personnel, were killed up to June.
BNA said last week that commission chairman, Egyptian-American human rights lawyer Cherif Bassiouni, is due in Bahrain in February to follow up on its recommendations.
Urging citizens to preserve civil peace, Sheikh Khalifa also said security personnel would be equipped with tear gas, sound bombs and rubber bullets in accordance with international standards to ensure public order.
On Thursday, police said that a man detained over "acts of violence and sabotage" died of a chronic disease in hospital while in custody, but the opposition said he was tortured to death.