Bahrain cut jail term for prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab from three years to two.
Bahrain cut jail term for prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab from three years to two.
Rajab’s lawyers said the appeals court on Tuesday reduced two jail sentences in cases involving the attendance at anti-regime protests from one year to six months each, while it upheld a one-year jail term in a third case, AFP reported.
The court also cleared Rajab, who heads the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, of a charge of insulting police, for which he had been fined 300 dinars (795 US dollars).
Amnesty International said lawyers of the 48-year-old would appeal before a higher court to have the jail term scrapped.
The reduction in the jail sentence was "completely hollow given that he shouldn't be serving any time in prison in the first place," said Philip Luther, Amnesty director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Rajab has "done nothing wrong, except peacefully express his views. A two-year prison sentence, just like a three-year sentence, is an insult and an injustice that can only be rectified by releasing him."
For its part, main opposition group al-Wefaq, said that Rajab had "exercised his right to demonstrate peacefully" and demanded his release.
The Kingdom has witnessed since February 2011 pro-democracy protests which demanded equality among Bahrainis.
The Bahraini regime promptly launched a brutal crackdown on the peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring states.
Dozens of people have been killed in the crackdown, and the security forces have arrested hundreds, including doctors and nurses accused of treating injured revolutionaries.
A report published by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry in November 2011 found that the Al Khalifa regime had used excessive force in the crackdown and accused Manama of torturing political activists, politicians, and protesters.
The protesters say they will continue holding anti-regime demonstrations until their demand for the establishment of a democratically elected government is met.
