Sheikh Ali Salman was found guilty of inciting sectarian hatred in case that drew fire from rights groups

The leader of Bahrain’s biggest opposition group was jailed Tuesday for four years, the country’s top prosecutor said of a case that has drawn fire from human rights groups.

Sheikh Ali Salman, secretary general of the moderate Shiite al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, was found guilty of inciting sectarian hatred and lawbreaking as well as insulting government institutions, Advocate General Haroon al-Zayani said in a statement carried by the official Bahrain News Agency.

Salman had denied all the charges. His lawyers last month accused judges of ending hearings in the case without allowing them to complete their defense.

Salman’s arrest in December sparked widespread protests in the small Gulf state, where a pro-democracy movement dominated by the Shiite majority was crushed by the Sunni monarchy’s security forces in 2011.

The office for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had called for Salman’s release, saying it was concerned by “the continuing harassment and imprisonment of individuals exercising their rights to freedom of opinion and expression.”

Al-Zayani said the case rested on recordings of public speeches, sermons and statements made by Salman and the opposition leader had been “afforded full legal rights.”

The opposition slammed the case against Salman as political retaliation after it called for a boycott of November’s parliamentary elections.

(DPA)