Jail sentences of 5-25 years for leaders of last year’s pro-democracy protests were upheld by a Bahraini court on 4 September. Opposition group Al-Wefaq issued a statement saying: “These are invalid verdicts that are worthless. They are an example of the regime’s despotism.” The decision has the potential to revive conflict between the authorities and protesters, mainly majority Shi'ite Muslims, which emerged in February 2011 during the Arab Spring of popular protests against authoritarian governments.