A top court in the Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain sentenced two people to death on Wednesday and issued lengthy prison sentences against nearly all 60 defendants on terrorism charges in a case that highlights the rivalry between Sunni Gulf states and Shiite-ruled Iran.

A court in Bahrain on Wednesday sentenced 58 people on terrorism charges, condemning two of them to death and stripping citizenship from 47, state news agency BNA reported.

The Bahraini Court of Cassation upheld on Monday (January 29, 2018) the death sentence issued against Maher Al-Khabbaz in the case of the Sehla policeman murder.

Journalist Bill Law strongly criticized British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, noting how Johnson has plenty to say on Brexit and renewing ties 'East of Suez', but strangely a statement condemning the kingdom's persecution of its Shia majority is notable in its absence.

Family of Sayed Alawi Hussain, who was sentenced to death in a military court, said that they had received phone calls from him informing them about his first family visit scheduled for next monday.

The Court of Cassation in Bahrain adjourned on Monday the sentencing hearing of youth Maher Al-Khabbaz who is on death row until January 29.

The Bahraini authorities did not wish to end 2017 any different than it started. Six Bahrainis were sentenced to death six days before the end of the year, just like three Bahrainis were executed for political reasons at the beginning of 2017.

Mrs. Hajar, mother of death row inmate Mohammad Ramadan, passed away today (Thursday, December 14, 2017) after being in a coma for about 6 months.

The Foreign Affairs, Defense and National Security Committee of the House of Representatives approved a bill aimed at deeming the harboring of wanted persons by security authorities a "terrorist offense".

A Saudi court ratified on Monday (September 11, 2017) a death sentence issued against youth Abdulkareem Al-Hawaj, from Al-Qala’a village situated in the Qatif region of the Eastern Province.

Kuwait’s supreme court on Sunday reduced death sentence of Shiite citizen convicted of forming a pro-Iranian cell and of plotting attacks, changing it to life in prison.

A Saudi Court of Appeal upheld the death penalty for 14 activists, who took part in protests in Qatif in 2011.

The Supreme Court of Appeals issued its verdict in the case overturned by the cassation court, accepted, unanimously, the appeals of Maher Abbas (Al-Khabbaz) in form and upheld the death sentence issued against him over killing a policeman in Al-Sahla.

In modern Bahrain, the truth behind violent deaths is hard to establish, highlights Marc Owen Jones in his article published on The Conversation website. “And the fact that they are largely ignored by the international media means you may well be reading about the following events for the first time,” he says.

Al-Wefaq condemned what it described as retaliatory death and lengthy prison sentences issued by Bahraini courts against a number of citizens, including former MP Sheikh Hassan Isa.

Amnesty International said that it is alarmed by the deteriorating human rights situation in Bahrain, in its oral statement to the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Amnesty International said it will continue to monitor situation of seven Bahrainis, who continue to serve life sentences, in same case in which three death penalties were upheld and then executed by Bahraini authorities earlier this year.

A Bahraini court issued on Thursday (March 23, 2017) death penalties against 3 defendants in a politically-motivated case in which they were accused of establishing terrorist group, acquiring weapons and carrying out blasts, among them the blast that led to death of policeman in “Al-Qarya”.

The British government has refused to back a joint United Nations statement criticising Bahrain over its deteriorating human rights record.

The Bahraini security authorities continued to prevent families of martyrs, who were executed on January 15, from visiting their sons in the Mahooz cemetery.