The United Nations’ human rights agency says prominent Bahraini opposition figure Sheikh Ali Salman and two of his colleagues have been given life sentences by the regime because of their political viewpoints, while Manama has attempted to portray their case as one of espionage.

Bahrain’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld life sentences issued against Sheikh Ali Salman, the secretary general of the now-dissolved al-Wefaq movement, and two senior al-Wefaq leaders, Sheikh Hassan Sultan and Ali Alaswad, in November last year on charges of spying for Qatar.

“We are deeply concerned that these convictions are due to their opposition to the Bahraini Government and its policies,” Marta Hurtado, a spokeswoman for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said in an e-mailed statement on Friday, Reuters reported.

Salman has been in custody in Bahrain since 2015. Sultan and Alaswad have been tried in absentia.

“There are also serious doubts concerning whether the court proceedings respected the right to a fair trial,” Hurtado said.