US urges Bahrain to review activist’s sentence

Washington/Paris: The United States has said that it remained troubled by a three-year sentence Bahrain handed to a leading rights activist, even though a court acquitted him on another charge.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland welcomed the decision of an appeals court in the US ally to acquit Nabeel Rajab over alleged insults issued via Twitter. “However, we’re deeply troubled that the Bahraini court simultaneously sentenced Rajab to three years last week in prison on charges of leading illegal gatherings,” she told reporters.

“We take this opportunity to urge the government of Bahrain to consider all available options to resolve this case and in general to take more steps to build confidence across Bahraini society and begin a meaningful dialogue with the political opposition, civil society and the government,” she said.

Meanwhile, France said it was “very disturbed” by the prison sentence given to the activist in Bahrain, which is supposed to be cooperating with Paris on judicial reform.

“We hope that this conviction, about which we have expressed our concern, will be reviewed on appeal,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Vincent Floreani said.

The head of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Rajab had led anti-government protests during public demonstrations.

His conviction earlier this month was described by Amnesty International as a dark day for justice in Bahrain.

On a visit to Paris at the end of July, Bahrain’s foreign minister announced that France had agreed to help the country in the areas of judicial reform and freedom of the press.