Bahrain cleric's death fuels protest

Bahrain authorities on June 30 denied opposition charges a Shiite cleric was murdered in prison, insisting he died of natural causes.

The cleric had been "suffering for some time from respiratory problems, and he died of natural causes, as certified in the medical report and death certificate," an interior ministry spokesman said.

But an exiled opposition group, the Bahrain Freedom Movement, accused the authorities on June 30 of having "killed Sheikh al-Nachas, a blind person about 50 years old."

Police had to break up a protest march of several dozen people in a village near Manama after news of the cleric's death spread, an inhabitant said.