Saudi Arabia behind Sheikh Salman’s Jail Term

(FNA)- The Saudi regime has been behind the Bahraini court's 4-year jail sentence for the prominent Shiite cleric and opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, a lawyer in Manama said.

"The Bahraini court's verdict issued against the secretary general of Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society (Sheikh Salman) was a Saudi decision," Jassem Najaf al-Ammareh told FNA on Wednesday.

He blasted the jail term issued against Sheikh Salman, and said, "The protests in different cities and regions of Bahrain will never come to a halt despite the regime's crackdown and suppression."

The lawyer noted that political institutions in his country have all condemned the imprisonment of Sheikh Salman and urged the international bodies to immediately interfere in this case.

On Tuesday, Al Wefaq party revealed that the court has sentenced Sheikh Salman to four years in jail.

The court acquitted Sheikh Salman of the charge of seeking regime change and instead convicted him of other charges, including collusion with foreign governments and instigating unrest.

The Manama regime arrested Sheikh Salman, the head of the country’s main opposition bloc, al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, last December, shortly after he called for serious political reforms in the Persian Gulf country following his re-election as the secretary general of al-Wefaq.

The 49-year-old has strongly denied the charges against him, emphasizing that he has been seeking reforms in the tiny island kingdom through peaceful means.

In a statement released on Monday, Amnesty International called on Bahraini authorities to release the prominent Shiite cleric “immediately and unconditionally.”

Amnesty also described Salman as "a prisoner of conscience detained solely for peacefully expressing his views.”