The men, including one soldier, were accused of several militant attacks and of attempting to assassinate a commander of the Bahraini army, BNA said.
The court sentenced seven other people linked to the case to seven years in jail and revoked their citizenship, while five others were acquitted, BNA added, quoting a state prosecution statement.
BNA said the 18 men involved in the case include eight who were convicted in absentia, having fled to Iraq and Iran. It was not clear which of the absent eight were sentenced to death and which to jail.
Bahrain accuses mainly Shi‘ite Iran of stoking militancy in the kingdom, a strategic island where the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet is based, charges Tehran denies. Bahrain has a Shi‘ite Muslim majority population but is ruled by a Sunni royal family.
The rulings are subject to appeal, the statement said.
Bahrain in January executed three Shi‘ite men convicted of killing three policemen, including an officer from the United Arab Emirates, in a 2014 bomb attack. They were the first such executions in over two decades and sparked protests.
Bahrain had seen occasional unrest since 2011 when authorities crushed protests mainly by the Shi‘ite majority demanding a bigger role in running the country.A Bahraini court on Monday sentenced 19 Shias to lengthy jail terms on charges of spying for Iran and plotting to overthrow the regime, judicial sources said.
Eight people were sentenced to life in prison, nine to 15 years in prison and two to 10 years in jail for espionage and inciting public dissent, according to a statement released by the counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office.
Fifteen of those convicted were also stripped of Bahraini citizenship, the statement said.
The court found the group guilty of leaking information to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards and Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah and of receiving “material support” from the two forces. They were also convicted of forming a cell to “incite the public against the government and call for regime change by force”.
The prosecutor’s office said the 19 belonged to the Al-Wafaa Islamic movement, a little-known group which Bahraini authorities say is linked to the Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a judicial source confirmed all 19 were Shias.
Dozens of Bahrainis have been jailed and stripped of citizenship since the 2011 outbreak of protests demanding an elected government in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.
A key US ally and home to the US Fifth Fleet, Bahrain has tightened its grip on dissent since 2011, drawing harsh criticism from international rights groups for its treatment of the Shia-majority population.
In April, parliament gave approval for military courts to try civilians charged with “terrorism”, a vaguely defined legal term in the kingdom.
Bahrain accuses Shia Iran of training “terrorist cells” that aim to overthrow its government, an allegation Tehran denies.
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