Bahrain jails leading activist for 3 months

Dubai: A Bahraini court on Monday handed leading Shiite activist Nabeel Rajab a three-month jail sentence after convicting him of posting tweets deemed insulting to Sunnis, one of his lawyers said.

“Nabeel Rajab has been sentenced to three months in prison,” in the Muharraq case, Mohammad Al Jishi told AFP, adding that the defence would appeal the verdict.

The activist had been released on June 27, three weeks after he was arrested for tweeting insults against the predominantly Sunni population of the province of Muharraq, according to prosecutors.

In a statement last month, prosecutors said they received complaints that Rajab “talked on social networks about the people of Muharraq in a way that questioned their patriotism and insulted them.”

Last year, a significant part of the minority Sunni community rallied around the government as Shiites led protests against the regime of the government.

Rajab is on trial in three other cases, all of which are linked to separate protests across Bahrain.

The activist had led anti-government protests against the government in March 2011.

Amnesty says 60 people have been killed since the protests erupted in February last year in the kingdom.