years for their peaceful opposition remained held as prisoners of conscience. In February a court sentenced Ebrahim Sharif, former Secretary General of the National Democratic Action Society (Waad), to a one-year prison term after convicting him of “incitement to hatred and contempt of the regime”. He was released in July after completing his sentence; his one-year prison term was upheld in November. Also in November the authorities charged him with “inciting hatred against the regime” for comments he made in a media interview about the visit to Bahrain of Prince Charles from the UK. The charges were dropped the same month. In March, the authorities detained activist Zainab al-Khawaja to serve sentences totalling 37 months following her conviction on various charges, including tearing pictures of the King. Her imprisonment was widely condemned. The authorities released her in May on “humanitarian grounds”; she subsequently left Bahrain. In April a criminal court imposed a oneyear prison term on activist Dr Sa’eed Mothaher Habib al-Samahiji for criticizing the Saudi Arabian authorities on Twitter. In May an appeals court increased the 2015 prison sentence of Sheikh Ali Salman, leader of the main opposition group al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, from four to nine years. The court had overturned his acquittal of the charge of inciting change of the political system “by force, threats and other illegal means”. In October the Court of Cassation rejected this decision and returned the case to the appeals court, which upheld its initial nine-year prison sentence in December. In June, human rights defender Nabeel Rajab was arrested and charged with “spreading false information and rumours with the aim of discrediting the state” during televised interviews. In July, his trial opened in relation to his Twitter posts in 2015 alleging torture in Jaw Prison and criticizing Saudi-led aerial bombing in Yemen. In December, the court ordered his release on bail while his trial was ongoing but he was immediately re- 78 arrested for investigation into the initial charge for which he had been arrested in June. He also faced separate prosecutions for comments he made in a New York Times article entitled “Letter from a Bahraini Jail” and in a letter published in Le Monde newspaper. The authorities continued to restrict the media. In February the Minister of Information prohibited media outlets from employing journalists deemed to “insult” Bahrain or other Gulf or Arab states. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION The authorities tightened restrictions on freedom of association, continuing to imprison some leaders of al-Wefaq and other opposition parties and harassing others by summoning them several times for interrogation. The authorities suspended al-Wefaq, seized its assets in June and obtained a court order for its dissolution in July for alleged breaches of the Law on Political Associations. FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY The authorities maintained their ban on all public gatherings in the capital, Manama. Frequent protests, including some which turned violent, continued in Shi’a villages, particularly following the enforced dissolution of al-Wefaq. The security forces used excessive force to disperse some protests, firing shotgun pellets and tear gas, and arresting scores of religious activists and other protesters, including children. At least one police officer and one member of the public died in protest-related violence. In January, the security forces forcibly dispersed people protesting against the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia. Police used tear gas and shotgun pellets and arrested protesters. In June, security forces blocked access into Duraz village for all but village residents after protesters gathered and began a sit-in protest outside the home of Shi’a Sheikh Issa Qassem after the authorities revoked his Bahraini citizenship. As the sit-in continued, the authorities arrested or summoned scores Amnesty International Report 2016/17