Protests have risen only a day after Shiekh Ali Salman’s trial last Monday where he was resentenced from 4 years to 9 years of prison. People of the small nation of Bahrain immediately reacted and engaged in protests all over the nation, most close to the capital of Manama. The people’s reactions came in strongly, daring to break the curfew laws in order to express their voices, and call for the immediate release of the opposition leader. Security forces in the area of al-Ma’ameer, south of Manama, even went as far as using tear gas to disperse the protesters. The protests do not come to any surprise to the international community, which had warned the Bahraini government of such reprisals in the past in the sentencing of Ali Salman. Human Rights Watch and other groups’ voices have joined those of the protester in the streets and have revoiced their call for Salman’s immediate release.

The United States’ Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Tom Malinowski, used his Twitter account to share his similars views on the situation stating: “#Bahrain should release Shiekh Ali Salman. Doubling his sentence will deepen government’s problems at home & abroad”.

Others such as Iran’s Foreign Ministry expressed their discontent with the trial: “Such measures against moderate political leaders does not solve any problem and by complicating these problems they will eventually benefit extremists [in Bahrain].” IRNA news Agency quoted Jaberi Ansari on Tuesday.

Lebanese media outlet Hezbollah has also condemned the jail sentence of Salman. Hezbollah voiced its opinion that the new verdict is in line with the Bahraini Regime’s policy of targeting peaceful religious scholars and opinion leaders that oppose the regime. Hezbollah has also made a wide call to the international community to help in condemning these actions by the Bahraini government and helping in creating pressures on Bahrain for the release of Salman.

Shiekh Ali Salman’s defense team has not been resting since the resentencing as well. Jalila Alsayed, a lawyer part of Salman’s defense team, stated that “Shiekh Ali Salman has always insisted on peacefulness in all his speeches. This was clear and did not need an interpretation of a judge. Where did this ‘incitement to violence through illegitimate means’ conviction come from?” Alsayed also stated that the trial has been politically motivated from the beginning. Salman’s prosecution was solely against his right to freedom of opinion and peaceful activism.

The defense team for Salaman is calling the trial out as they deemed it lacked the international standards for a fair trial because the conviction had been based on exculpatory evidence. The legal team also has a long list of violations of procedures by the courts, Office of Public Prosecution, and Jaw Prison administration, such as retaining information and excluding the Defense from vital proceedings during the trial. With all this, they hope to meet with Salman soon to discuss pushing his verdict to the cassation court.

It is uncertain for now to know if Salman’s legal team will bring any positive change. Amid protests and international outrage only time will tell if the whole of these efforts will help for Salman’s release. Bahrain’s government has only increased its violations of human rights against its own people in the recent years and does not seem to come at any halt soon.