A Bahraini appeals court has partially overturned a court ruling sentencing 20 medics to lengthy jail terms for taking part in anti-government protests.

Nine of the medics were acquitted but one of the doctors, Ali al-Ekri, was sentenced to five years in jail.

Another was given three years, while a further seven medics were handed jail terms of between a month and a year.

Two of the medics convicted last year did not appeal – they are thought to have left Bahrain or gone into hiding.

Many of the 20 medics facing jail were working at the Salmaniya Medical Complex in the capital Manama last February and March, when security forces violently suppressed pro-democracy protests.