Bahraini Activist Nabeel Rajab Free on Bail

Local Editor

Prominent Bahraini activist Nabeel Rjaba who has been imprisoned for months while facing a trial over a series of tweets has been freed on bail.

The decision follows repeated requests to release Rajab, 52, who suffered recurring health problems.

The court postponed his trial to January 23, the source said, adding that Rajab attended the hearing.

Jalila Sayed, the defense lawyer for Rajab, told The Associated Press that the activist was released after a long court hearing Wednesday.

Rajab, who had been pardoned for health reasons last year, was re-arrested in June and is on trial on a list of charges, including insulting a state institution and Saudi Arabia in online postings.

He separately faces investigations for letters published by The New York Times and the French newspaper Le Monde during his incarceration.

The rights activist is also accused of "spreading false news and rumors and inciting propaganda during wartime which could undermine the war operations by the Bahraini armed forces and weaken the nation", according to state media.

Bahrain is part of a Saudi-led coalition battling in Yemen.

Rajab helped lead peaceful protests during Bahrain's 2011 demonstrations as the island's majority Shiite population and others demanded more political freedoms from its Sunni rulers.

Bahrain is home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet and an under-construction British naval base.

The tiny Kingdom had been rocked by unrest since security forces crushed protests in 2011 demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team