Alwaght – Bahraini regime sentenced Nabeel Rajab, one of the highest-profile democracy campaigners in the Arab world, to six months in jail on Tuesday over remarks critical of the state, Reuters reported .
The founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Rajab took a leading role in Shiite-led demonstrations in Bahrain in 2011 that demanded reforms in the Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab Kingdom, inspired by other pro-democracy uprisings in the Arab world .
Bahrain's public prosecutor said on its Twitter account that a person had been sentenced to six months in jail for publicly insulting two government institutions. It did not name the individual .
Rajab's lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi confirmed the sentence on Twitter, but said it would be suspended pending an appeal .
The court set a bail of 200 Bahraini dinars ($530) while the appeal was being processed. Rajab had also been on bail in the run-up to sentencing .
Rajab was previously handed three months in jail in 2013 in a separate case over a Twitter posting criticizing the prime minister, the king's uncle. The ruling was overturned, but only after Rajab had already served his sentence .
Foreign-backed Bahraini regime quelled the 2011 pro-democracy protests but has since struggled to resolve political deadlock between the regime and the revolutionaries .
Shiites, majority of Yemen population, suffer from political and economic discrimination f the Sunni-ruled regime .
Bahraini regime, for a long time, has been busy naturalizing Sunnis from abroad so that they would eventually outnumber Shiites in the small Persian Gulf kingdom. Al Khalifa has planned to tip the demographic balance of Bahrain in favor of Sunnis in order to save its dictatorship that will be certainly toppled if a democratic election is held.
Al Khalifa security forces have suppressed Bahraini pro-democracy protests that erupted on the island during the Islamic Awakening three years ago. They have killed dozens of protesters via bullet and toxic gas, jailed and tortured hundreds without trial exiled many dissidents and revoked their citizenship. All aforementioned crimes were committed by Al Khalifa because international organization and powers did nothing but watching and keeping silence.
