Press TV - Bahrain�s senior opposition Shia�cleric Sheikh Ali Salman has had his prison sentence commuted by five years.

�After deliberations, the Court of Cassation canceled the nine-year ruling issued [earlier] by the Court of Appellation and reinstated the four-year verdict initially handed to him by the Division 4 Criminal Court in 2015,� said one of Sheikh Salman�s defense attorneys on Monday.

Sheikh Salman, who has been in prison since 2014, was now given a two-year prison term over the charge of breaking the law and inciting hatred, and another two years on a charge of insulting the Ministry of the Interior, said Abdullah al-Shamlavi, the defense attorney.

The court annulled Sheikh Salman�s five-year sentence that had been handed down to him by the Court of Appeals for allegedly conducting activities aimed at �regime change,� he further explained.

Shamlavi added that the final four-year sentence imposed on the leading opposition figure by the regime�s high court was irrevocable and the cleric should be freed from jail on December 28, 2018.

The Court of Cassation�s reduction of Salman�s sentence from nine to four years came under pressure by international rights groups and the Bahraini people, who have been staging numerous anti-regime protest rallies on an almost daily basis across the country demanding the release of Sheikh Salman.

He was the secretary general of the country�s now-dissolved al-Wefaq National Islamic Society. He has denied all charges against him.

The unpopular Al Khalifah regime, has staged a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy forces since a nationwide uprising started on the tiny Persian Gulf Arab island in 2011.