Naser al-Raas was facing a five-year prison sentence after being convicted in October 2011 of illegal assembly, rioting and incitement in the Arab Spring protests.

The 29-year-old al-Raas had been hiding out in Bahrain since his conviction but was arrested Wednesday when he showed up in court in a final bid to get out of the sentence.

His fiancée, Zainan Ahmed, told CBC News that al-Raas’s lawyer requested his release and the court approved it.

Claims torture

Al-Raas had been living and working in Kuwait but last April went to Bahrain to visit his sisters and fiancée. He was then accused of joining the demonstrations.

The Kuwait-born Canadian citizen was arrested when trying to board a plane to return to Kuwait at the Bahrain International Airport Wednesday. His passport was confiscated.

Al-Raas claimed he was tortured for a month last year for a similar offence and wants all charges dropped, adding he was also deprived of medication he needs for a heart and lung condition.

After his most recent arrest, his fiancée spoke with CBC’s Ashley Burke via Skype, saying she was afraid al-Raas would be tortured again. She begged the Canadian to do something.

Diane Ablonczy, the minister of state of foreign affairs (Americas and consular affairs), said in a statement following al-Raas’s latest arrest that Canada would “continue to raise Canada’s concerns regarding Mr. Al-Raas’s situation with the Bahraini government and will urge that his case be resolved expeditiously.”

The video offers the opinions of two additional guests: Saeed al-Shahabi, with the Bahrain Freedom Movement and Sara Flounders who is the co-director of International Action Center. What follows is the text of the interview:

Press TV: Mr. Korb, you are sitting in Washington. Let’s look at what Mr. al-Shahabi said about and let’s start off with the poisonous tear gases that are being shot in people’s homes or shot at protesters who are on the streets.

On these teargas canisters that are marked with ‘made in the USA’, how responsible is Washington for what is taking place on the ground in Bahrain?

Korb: There is no doubt about the fact that Washington ought to speak out about what is happening in Bahrain just as they are speaking out about what is happening in Syria and I think Washington has to be very careful that the equipment that they send to Bahrain for protecting them against external enemies is not used against the people.

And I think they want to make it very clear that if it continues to do this, they will not get anymore equipment. And I think again, going back to the clip you played about what President Obama said in the State of the Union message, you cannot have it both ways.

If you are going to be for it, you have to be for it not only in Syria and Libya and Egypt but also in Bahrain.

Press TV: What you said just now about what is happening as far as the equipment that to make sure that they protect themselves from external enemies, but we know 4 months ago, there was another shipment and again it has been approved by the Obama administration to send more military equipment. At this point in time, how logical is that?

The hybrid airline, which offers low-cost fares with full-service operations, had planned a grand unveil for its retrofitted aircraft with a revised seat configuration and brand new in-flight entertainment system in premium class. Unfortunately, the much-awaited launch had to be postponed after the delivery of Bahrain Air’s first retrofitted aircraft was delayed.

Undeterred, the airline still participated in the flying and static displays with its Airbus A320, while various other developments were promoted to visitors, including the recent addition of new routes, upcoming menu enhancements, and the establishment of new holiday and cargo divisions.

“Bahrain Air is continuously looking at ways to extend and improve our current offerings. While last year was difficult for all in the industry, we are expecting traffic to improve in 2012 and plan to launch six more destinations this year, subject to government approvals,” explains Richard Nuttal, who was recently appointed as Bahrain Air’s CEO. The executive has also expressed an interest in developing the carrier’s aircraft fleet, with rumours that the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ) is being considered, alongside Bombardier regional jets.

“The leases on our Airbus A319s are running out in two to three years, so we are looking at aircraft in the 100-130 seat range. Discussions are ongoing,” confirms Nuttal, adding that a purchase could be finalised as soon as March 2012, with deliveries in 2014-15.

The unrest Sunday is the fourth straight day of clashes between opposition supporters and security forces along a main highway west of the Bahraini capital Manama. At least 40 people have been killed since February, when Bahrain’s Shiite majority started campaigning for more rights from Sunni rulers in the Gulf kingdom that is the home of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

Amir al-Mouali said his 73-year-old neighbor, Abdulali Ali Ahmed, was taken to a hospital Saturday morning after struggling to breath during a night of heavy clashes near his home along the Budaiya highway, which connects a string of Shiite villages west of Manama.

Al-Mouali said Ahmed died Saturday evening.

In a statement Sunday, Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said Ahmed died of natural causes.

The demonstrations along the strategic highway has been going since Thursday. The Budaiya highway leads to a junction that is roughly half a kilometer (a quarter of a mile) south of Manama’s Pearl Square, the former focus of Bahrain’s Shiite uprisings.

Government forces evicted protesters from the Pearl Square in March and tore down the pearl sculpture that marked the site.

The now heavily guarded square holds great symbolic value for Bahrain’s opposition movement, and protesters have repeatedly tried to retake it.

The move follows a highly critical report which found that the police in the Gulf state had used excessive force against anti-government protesters.

More than 40 people were killed during the demonstrations in February and March this year.

Officials say John Timoney will head a team of US and British advisers.

King Hamad of Bahrain has promised to prevent further abuses by the security forces, following an independent inquiry on the violence which published its findings last month.

The inquiry interviewed more than 5,000 people and documented illegal arrests, forced confessions, unfair trials and the systematic torture of detainees.

The king expressed “dismay” at the findings and said the report opened a “new page” in Bahrain’s history.

Bahraini medical staff accused of trying to overthrow the government of the Gulf state earlier this year, and who had hoped charges against them might now be dropped, faced new accusations in a court hearing.

Twenty staff from the Salmaniya Medical Complex in Manama had thought their ordeal might be ending on Monday after the release of last week’s report detailing human rights abuses by Bahrain’s security forces during the Pearl revolution in February.

The report by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) found allegations that the medics “assisted the demonstrators by supplying them with weapons” to be unfounded.

But prosecutors produced guns, swords, knives and chains and claimed this was proof against the doctors, nurses, and paramedics. These weapons had not been presented previously – and led to an incredulous response in court. “It was really hilarious,” one of them, Dr Nada Dhaif, told BBC Radio 5. “The government has missed the chance that anyone will take this seriously.”

The 20 were initially convicted in the military-run national safety court in September on a raft of charges, including incitement to overthrow the regime. The government said they were involved with “hardline protesters” and they were sentenced to five to 15 years.

The case angered human rights groups. Amnesty International called it a “travesty of justice” and the US State Department said it was “deeply disturbed”. The defendants complained that the weapons were fabricated evidence.

The medics have always insisted they were treating injured protesters after the violent crackdown on rallies last spring and denied prosecution claims that they had stockpiled weapons in the hospital and denied treatment to other patients.

The Salmaniya Medical Centre is close to Pearl Square in Manama, which became the centre of Bahrain’s uprising.

Last week the BICI reported that there had been human rights abuses by members of the security forces but insisted these were not government policy. King Hamad Al Khalifa has pledged to follow through on the report’s recommendations – generating hope of reconciliation in a polarised country.

In a separate case a court in Manama postponed a ruling on the appeal of two protesters who were sentenced to death for killing two policemen.At least 35 people have been killed since February when the protests began. Hundreds of people have been arrested, tried or dismissed from their jobs.

The discovery of the alleged plot began when Qatari security authorities arrested four Bahrainis who entered Qatar from neighboring Saudi Arabia, said a Bahrain Ministry of Interior spokesman.

The suspects were carrying documents and a laptop “containing sensitive security information and details about some places and vital establishments in Bahrain, as well as airline bookings to Syria,” the spokesman’s statement said. The suspects were also carrying a “significant” amount of U.S. dollars and Iranian toman, the spokesman said.

The Qatari Security Authority learned that the four suspects left Bahrain “after being incited by others to head to Iran,” and then they passed through Qatar and Syria “to establish a group that carries out armed terrorist operations in Bahrain,” the interior ministry spokesman’s statement said.

Among the alleged targets were the Ministry of Interior building, the King Fahad Causeway, and the Saudi Arabia Embassy, the spokesman said.

Qatari authorities sent the four suspects to Bahrain on November 4, where they were charged with planning “terror crimes,” the spokesman said.

The four defendants provided information about a fifth suspect in Bahrain, who was also arrested, Bahraini authorities said.

Victor Dahdaleh, 68, who is British and Canadian, is charged with corruption offenses related to contracts between Bahrain’s state-owned aluminum manufacturer and the U.S.-based Alcoa Inc.

Prosecutors alleged that the offense, linked to payments for the shipments of the raw material alumina to Bahrain from Australia, took place between 2001 and 2005.

District Judge Quentin Purdy told Dahdaleh he would be granted bail until an appearance at London’s Southwark Crown Court on Jan. 13.

He ordered Dahdaleh to post 10 million pounds in security and said he must observe a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew at his central London home.

Friends and relatives of the billionaire, including senior executives from Credit Suisse and oil giant BP, also agreed to offer 1.42 million pounds (US$2.3 million) in sureties.

Dahdaleh is the chairman and owner of metals and chemicals firm Dadco and a trustee of the Clinton Foundation. He also has had close ties to Britain’s Labour Party.

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office said he is alleged to have offered corrupt payments to Sheik Isa bin Ali al-Khalifa, son-in-law of Bahrain’s prime minister. The office confirmed that an investigation begun in 2009 had involved the U.S. Department of Justice and authorities in Switzerland.

Dahdaleh has not entered a plea, but in a statement issued through his lawyers denied any wrongdoing and promised to “vigorously contest” the allegations.

The businessman has surrendered his British and Canadian passports, and Purdy ordered him not to attempt to leave Britain before his next court appearance.

The doctors, nurses, and paramedics were initially tried and convicted in the military-run National Safety Court on September 28 on a raft of charges, including incitement to overthrow the regime.

They were handed sentences ranging from five to 15 years each.

The government portrayed Sunday’s hearing as a new trial, following widespread condemnation of Bahrain’s Sunni-led regime in the wake of last month’s sentencing.

But defendants and rights activists said it was an appeal in civil court.

“Strictly speaking, this is an appeals trial. This is not a new trial,” Human Right Watch’s deputy Middle East director Joe Stork said, adding such politicised cases would have “the same fair trial problems as military courts.”

Opposition ex-MP Matar Matar said the hearing was an attempt to “contain the international outrage” and accused the government of trying to mislead public opinion by saying the medics were being retried in civil court.

But in a dramatic reversal, the prosecutor told the court it was dropping confessions from the defendants, after medics had protested that the statements were extracted under duress.

“Although they did not drop the main charges, it is important that the public prosecution has decided to dismiss the confessions and consider them false,” Matar told AFP.

The package of changes would transfer some new powers to elected lawmakers, but leaves intact the sweeping controls of Sunni rulers. Bahrain’s majority Shiites began protests in February seeking more rights and demanding an end to the monarchy’s grip on the country’s affairs.

The reforms are likely to be approved, but they appear unlikely to ease a crisis that has left about 35 people dead and delivered a serious blow to the economy of the strategic island nation — home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.