(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - A Bahraini court has sentenced eight people to up to 15 years in prison over charges of plotting to overthrow the Manama regime, their lawyer says.

Mohsen al-Alawi said the court on Sunday sentenced six of the people to 15 years in prison, with three of them being sentenced in absentia.

The remaining two convicts received lesser sentences and were released because they had already spent six months in detention, Alawi said.

The eight Bahrainis also faced charges of planning possible attacks against high-profile targets such as the interior ministry headquarters in the capital, Manama, and the causeway connecting Bahrain with Saudi Arabia.

The Sunday court ruling comes at a time when Bahraini regime forces continue their crackdown on peaceful anti-government protests.

Bahraini police attacked protesters holding a demonstration in the northwestern village of Saar, about 16 kilometers (10 miles) west of Manama, on Saturday.

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