10 Nov 2024
Monday 31 December 2018 - 18:24
Story Code : 332857

Bahrain court upholds jail sentence for top activist Nabeel Rajab

Press TV - Bahrain's high court has upheld a five-year jail term against prominent human rightsactivist Nabeel Rajab despite calls from rights groupsto release him.


On February 21, a court in Bahrain sentenced the distinguished human rights activist to five years in prison over tweets deemed critical of the Manama regime and the deadly Saudi-led war against Yemen.
"The Court of Cassation rejected the appeal and upheld the sentence of five years in prison against Nabeel Rajab for his tweets," Reuters quoted his lawyerMohamed Al Jishi as sayingMonday.
The verdict isfinal and cannot be appealed.

According to a court document, Rajab was found guilty of ""spreading false news and rumors in time of war", "insulting foreign countries" and "insulting publicly the interior ministry" in comments posted on Twitter.

International rights groups havecondemned the ruling and called for the release of the pro-democracy campaigner, whois already serving a two-year jail sentence over a news interview in which he said Bahrain tortured political detainees.

Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the kingdom in mid-February 2011. They are demanding that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.

Manama has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent. On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to assist Bahrain in its crackdown.

Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of the Al Khalifah regimes crackdown.

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