Bahrain upholds jail sentence for opposition chief

Dubai / AFP

Bahrain’s appeals court on Monday upheld a nine-year jail sentence against opposition chief Sheikh Ali Salman, a judicial source said.
The sentence against Salman, for inciting hatred and calling for regime change by force, had been overturned by the court of cassation in October.
Salman, 51, is considered a moderate who has pushed for a constitutional monarchy in Bahrain, unlike hardline groups who have demanded the toppling of the Al-Khalifa dynasty.
His arrest in December 2014, in connection with speeches he had given, sparked protests in Bahrain.
Human Rights Watch said he was arrested and charged “despite the fact Salman renounced violence and called for peaceful protest in his speeches”.
The charismatic Shiite cleric was sentenced in July 2015 to four years in jail after being convicted of inciting hatred in the Gulf kingdom.
But the appeals court in May more than doubled his jail term to nine years after reversing an earlier acquittal on charges of calling for regime change by force.
The court of cassation overturned that sentence on October 17 and ordered a retrial before the appeals court. It also rejected a request to release the cleric.
In July, a court ordered the dissolution of Salman’s Al-Wefaq movement for “harbouring terrorism”, inciting violence and encouraging demonstrations which threatened to spark sectarian strife.
Al-Wefaq had the largest bloc in parliament before lawmakers walked out in February 2011 in protest over a deadly crackdown on Arab Spring-inspired protests.