Bahrain court rejects request for alternative sentence for activist

A Bahraini court has rejected a motion filed by lawyers of prominent activist Nabeel Rajab asking it to pass an alternative to the jail term he is currently serving, his lawyer said on Monday, reports Reuters.

Rajab, an outspoken critic of the Bahraini government who played a prominent role in pro-democracy protests in 2011, is serving a five-year sentence over social media posts criticizing Saudi Arabia’s air strikes in Yemen.

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“Our motion has been rejected,” his lawyer, Mohamed Al Jishi, said. He added the motion was filed on April 30 in a bid to benefit from an alternative punishment law which the kingdom introduced last year.