A court in Bahrain on Wednesday sentenced a prominent activist to five years in prison over tweets, criticising the Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen and alleging torture at a prison in his country.

The case against Nabeel Rajab, a major figure in the island nation's 2011 Arab Spring protests, has been widely criticised by the global community.

Rajab previously had been sentenced to two years in prison over television interviews he gave that included criticisms of Bahrain, an island off Saudi Arabia that's home to the United States Navy's 5th Fleet.

Rajab has been detained since June 2016 as part of a wide crackdown on all dissent in Bahrain. He has been hospitalised several times during his incarceration over heart problems and ulcers.

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