Mohsen al-Alawi told AFP his client Naser al-Raas, who was freed on bail for health reasons on February 6 after being detained for a month, "was acquitted on Thursday by the grand court of appeal" in the capital Manama.
On January 26, Canada’s deputy foreign minister Diane Ablonczy said in a statement that Ottawa continues "to press for his case to be resolved expeditiously, particularly in view of Mr Al-Raas’ grave health concerns."
Rights group Amnesty International said that Raas "has a heart condition that his Canadian doctor has said is aggravated by imprisonment, bringing a real threat that he could die behind bars."
It also called his imprisonment a "horror story."
Raas, a 29-year-old engineer from Ottawa, travelled to Bahrain in early March 2011 to visit members of his family.
He was held for a month after the mid-March crackdown on protests, and then sentenced in October to five years in prison with 12 other Shiites for involvement in protests against Bahrain’s Sunni ruling Al-Khalifa dynasty.
He failed to turn up in court on January 24, when the 12 others were acquitted.
Raas was arrested at the airport as he prepared to leave the country and was imprisoned for a month in al-Qala prison, where he claims to have been beaten.
