Bahrain Mirror: The Bahraini court of cassation overturned on Monday (April 3, 2017) a verdict issued by appeals court sentencing the opposition leader and Al-Wefaq Secretary-General to 9 years in prison.

During today's session that lasted for about an hour and a half, the cassation court upheld a preliminary verdict sentencing him to 4 years in prison (verdict of first-instance court), according to one of Sheikh Ali Salman's defence members, Abdullah Al-Shamlawi.

Based on today's ruling, which is considered final, Sheikh Salman will spend the 4-year jail term starting from his arrest date, December 28, 2014. This means that he will finish his jail term sentence on December 28, 2018.

The authorities have escalated their measures against the opposition since Salman's arrest. They dissolved Al-Wefaq Society and an administrative court is looking now in a lawsuit raised by the Ministry of justice to dissolve secular opposition society, Wa'ad.

The authorities revoked on (June 20, 2016) the nationality of spiritual leader of Shia majority Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim, which led to new wave of unrests.

Arabic Version