Bahrain's top court rejected on Monday a request to release Shia opposition chief cleric Ali Salman, who is serving a nine-year jail term on charges of inciting hatred and forceful regime change.
The head of the Al-Wefaq group had been sentenced in July 2015 to four years in jail after being convicted of inciting hatred in the kingdom.
But the appeals court in May more than doubled his jail term to nine years after reversing an earlier acquittal on charges of calling for regime change by force.
The court of cassation set October 17 as a new date to examine Salman's sentence.
His arrest in December 2014 sparked protests in Bahrain.
Salman's jail sentence is part of a crackdown on the Gulf nation's largest opposition group, which has been dissolved by a court order over accusations of "harbouring terrorism."
Al-Wefaq had the largest parliamentary bloc before its MPs walked out in February 2011 in protest at a crackdown on Arab Spring-inspired protests.
Ali Salman is serving a nine-year jail term.
