DUBAI, May 22: Jailed Bahraini activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, on hunger strike for more than three months, was brought to court in a wheelchair on Tuesday when the retrial resumed of 13 men imprisoned over protests that rocked the island last year, activists said.

A military court convicted the men last year of using violence in protests led by majority Shias in an effort to topple the monarchy.

Bahrain’s highest appeals court ordered a retrial last month for 21 protest leaders, ruling that they should be retried in a civilian court. Seven of them were convicted in absentia and are abroad or in hiding, and one, Horr al-Sumaikh, was released by the appeals court.

The court did not order the release of the remaining 13 or cancel their convictions, despite calls by international rights groups for their unconditional release. Eight of them are serving life sentences.—Reuters