DUBAI: Bahrain’s appeals court upheld yesterday a 15-month jail sentence for a former Shia opposition MP over his role in anti-regime protests in 2011, lawyers said.
Jawad Fairooz, a leading member of Al Wefaq, the largest opposition formation in the Gulf kingdom, was sentenced for taking part in unauthorised protests that broke out on February 14, 2011, before being brutally quelled a month after, lawyers said.
He was also convicted of calling for protests without notifying authorities, but acquitted of inciting hatred against the regime of the Sunni Al Khalifa dynasty, and of spreading false information, lawyers said.
In November, Fairooz and 30 other activists were stripped of their Bahraini citizenships over accusations of “jeopardising state security.”
Al Wefaq once had the largest single bloc in Bahrain’s elected chamber, holding 18 out of 40 seats before it decided to walk out in February 2011 in protest over violence used against demonstrations.
AFP
