Local Editor

Twenty six Bahraini and international rights groups called for the release of prominent activist Nabeel Rajab, who faces trial on Tuesday on charges of sending out anti-government tweets that could carry up to 13 years in prison.

Rajab's case appears to relate to tweets authorities allege he sent last year suggesting security forces had tortured detainees and accusing the government of complicity in killing civilians as part of a Saudi-led war in Yemen.

He was arrested earlier last month as part of what Bahraini rights groups say is an escalating crackdown by the government on the island's Shi'ite population.

For their part, government officials did not comment publicly on the case.

"We remind the Bahraini government of its obligation to preserve the right to free expression," the campaign groups, including Human Rights First and Physicians for Human Rights, said in a statement.

"We reiterate repeated calls by United Nations officials, and others in the international community, to immediately release Rajab," they added.

Bahraini rights groups said authorities on Monday freed Ibrahim Sharif, former head of the secular Waad party, after he served a year in jail for what state news agency BNA claimed was publicizing "hatred of the regime."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team