DUBAI - Bahrain, under pressure to improve its right record to secure a purchase of US arms, has pledged to stop prosecuting athletes over their participation in pro-democracy demonstrations crushed by the government earlier this year. The official BNA news agency said late on Wednesday that public prosecutors had ordered a halt to cases "concerning athletes who took part in the events of February and March 2011, and accused of taking part in marches, rallies and inciting hatred for the system of government". BNA did not identify any of the sports figures affected. Last week a military court sentenced a bodybuilder, a footballer and a basketball player - all members of the majority Shi'ite Muslim community who had represented Bahrain internationally - to a year in prison for joining the unrest. Lawyer Mohsen Al-Alawi said 64 athletes in total faced legal action, with most of the cases under way. He said the decision to halt the cases meant convictions already issued still stood and all charges could be reactivated in the future. "The charges have not been abrogated, the prosecution has simply asked for the cases to be halted," he said. Inspired by "Arab Spring" revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, thousands of mainly Shi'ite Bahrainis took to the streets in February and March demanding political change to limit the power of the ruling Sunni Muslim Al-Khalifa family. The protest wave was forcibly put down with the help of military forces brought in from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Bahrain hosts the US Fifth Fleet. Washington has said a pending $53 million arms sale to Bahrain will hinge partly on the monarchy halting the abuses inflicted on protesters outlined in a report by a government-appointed fact-finding commission of international lawyers. The panel reported last month that 3,000 people were detained, over 4,000 lost their jobs, and hundreds were maltreated in detention, subjected to sexual abuse, sodomy with objects and electric shocks. The BNA report said the decision to shelve prosecutions of athletes was based on King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa's call to "rise above those who had done wrong". Similar charges have led to convictions in other cases, and the BNA report said prosecutors would continue with the trial of teachers accused of taking part in the protests. Bahrain has hired US and British police chiefs to lead reform efforts within security agencies and established a committee to look into the commission's recommendations.
