Bahrain Mirror (AP): A Bahraini appeals court has more than doubled the prison term for the country's top Shiite opposition figure who was part of the island nation's 2011 Arab Spring-inspired uprising.

Sheikh Ali Salman's lawyer, Jalila al-Sayed, says the court increased his sentence to nine years imprisonment on Monday, up from an earlier sentence of four years handed down last year.

Salman is the secretary-general of the al-Wefaq, the country's largest Shiite political group. He was arrested in late 2014 and later convicted on charges that included incitement and insulting the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police.

Tiny Bahrain hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. Members of the country's Shiite majority frequently hold localized protests against the Sunni monarchy that often include clashes with police.