AFP: A Bahraini court on Sunday jailed six police officers for up to five years after convicting them of torturing inmates, one of whom died, a judicial source said.

The officers beat up three prisoners in an attempt to force them to admit to smuggling drugs and mobile telephones into jail, the source said.

"They beat them excessively and kicked them in their heads and other parts of their bodies," the source said, adding that the torture caused the death of one of the inmates.

The defendants also summoned the brother of one of the inmates and tortured him to obtain a confession, the source added.

Rights groups have in the past accused police in the Gulf monarchy of routinely torturing Shiite detainees held over their role in anti-government protests which rocked the country in 2011.