A Bahrain emergency appeals court upheld death sentences on Sunday for two men found guilty of killing police officers during recent unrest, punishments human rights activists said were designed to prevent more protests.
Two other men who were among the four initially sentenced to death on April 28 had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment, the state news agency said.
The report did not say when the two executions would be carried out, but Manama-based legal expert Mohammed Ahmed said they would first need to be approved by Bahrain's king.
Bahrain, home of the US Fifth Fleet, faced a wave of Shia-led protests in February and March demanding democratic reform and an end to sectarian discrimination in the Sunni-ruled kingdom. Some hard-liners demanded a republic. Bahrain's rulers imposed emergency law and called in troops from neighbouring Gulf countries in March to quash the protests, which amounted to the greatest threat to the island kingdom's Sunni rulers in Bahrain's history.
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