Bahrain Delays Verdict for 11-Year-Old Protester

Ali Hasan spent a month in jail already
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 20, 2012 2:26 PM CDT
Bahrain Delays Verdict for 11-Year-Old Protester
Ali Hasan flashes the victory sign before getting into his family's car after his release from a police station in Nabih Saleh, an island just south of the capital of Manama, Bahrain, June 11, 2012.   (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

A Bahrain court has adjourned the case of an 11-year-old boy accused of taking part in anti-government protests and says it will hand down a verdict July 5. The sixth-grade student, who was in court today alongside his father, spent a month behind bars and took his final school exams there. The boy, Ali Hasan, faces charges of joining an illegal gathering and other claims related to the ongoing unrest in the troubled Gulf nation.

Hasan's defense lawyer has asked the court to drop the charges. The boy is among the youngest suspects detained in crackdowns on protests led by Bahrain's Shiite majority, which seeks a greater political voice from the ruling Sunni dynasty. More than 50 people have died in Bahrain's upheavals since February 2011. (More Ali Hasan stories.)

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