TEHRAN, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday dismissed a recent court ruling in Bahrain that the kingdom's dissidents have links to the Islamic republic as "baseless."
The ruling is "baseless allegations" against Iran, Tasnim news agency quoted the ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi as saying in a statement.
A day earlier, Bahrain's public prosecutor said some of the Bahraini defendants had been trained in Iran, Lebanon and Iraq to build a cell called Bahraini Hezbollah in order to sow discord in the Gulf state.
A total of 139 people have been handed prison sentences, including 69 life sentences for terrorism charges. Most of the defendants were also stripped of citizenship.
The government of Bahrain cannot cover up its "brazen violation" of human rights and suppression of protesters by putting the blame on others, said Mousavi.
The Iranian spokesman called on Bahrain to satisfy the "legitimate demands of its people and stop imposing cruel sentences on protesters."
