Activist schoolboy free after a month in prison

A Bahrain court has adjourned the case of an 11-year-old boy accused of taking part in protests against the government and says it will hand down a verdict on July 5.

The sixth-grade student, who was in court yesterday alongside his father, spent a month behind bars and took his final school exams there.

The boy, Ali Hasan, faces charges of joining an illegal gathering and other claims related to the ongoing unrest in the nation.

Defence lawyer Shahzalan Khamis has asked the court to drop the charges.

The boy is among the youngest suspects detained in crackdowns on protests led by Bahrain’s Shia majority, which seeks a greater political voice from the ruling Sunni dynasty.

More than 50 people have died in Bahrain’s upheavals since February 2011.