Bahrain has commuted death sentences passed on 3 Bahraini Shi'ite Muslims for a 1996 arson attack in which 7 Bangladeshi restaurant workers died, the official Gulf News Agency reported late on Monday. It said Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa issued a decree commuting to life terms the death sentences against Ali Ahmed al-Asfoor, Youssef Hassan Abdul-Baqi and Ahmed Khalil al-Kattab. It gave no further details. The 3 have been detained since Bahrain's State Security Court in July 1996 ordered their execution for the arson attack. The court also jailed 4 other Bahrainis for life for taking part in the attack, at the height of protests by the island's majority Shi'ite Muslim community seeking political and economic reforms from the Sunni-led government. In 1996, Bahrain executed Shi'ite activist Isa Ahmed Qambar for killing a policeman, the 1st such move against an anti-government protester since political unrest erupted in the Gulf Arab state in 1994. The unrest abated in 1998. (source: Reuters)