Manama: A Bahraini court sentenced an opposition political figure on Wednesday to a year in prison over a speech he made in 2015 calling for change in the kingdom.
Ebrahim Sharif, the former secretary-general of the secular National Democratic Action Society, was convicted on a charge of inciting hatred. The court dismissed a charge Sharif faced accusing him of promoting the toppling of Bahrain’s government.
Sharif’s lawyer, Sami Syadi, said that he planned to appeal. Sharif has been held since his arrest July 2015 and Syadi said he believed time his client already had served would count toward his sentence.
Sharif made the speech in July 2015, just a month after being freed after serving over four years in prison for his role in 2011 protests. In it, he said opponents of the government engaged in peaceful protests while authorities used violence to put down demonstrations.
The secular, leftist political group Sharif once headed also goes by the Arabic name Waad.
