A Bahraini court on Monday upheld a life sentence for opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman for spying for Gulf rival Qatar, a ruling his party slammed as "political revenge".
Salman, who headed Al-Wefaq, a now-banned Shiite movement, was convicted by an appeals court in November in a decision rights groups called a travesty.
The supreme court confirmed the verdict against Salman and two of his aides for "spying for a foreign state in order to... overthrow the government", according to a statement released by public prosecutor Osama al-Awfi.
Bahrain in 2017 cut all ties with Qatar as part of a Saudi-led boycott in response to what Riyadh and its allies say are Doha's policies on Iran and Islamist groups.
The kingdom -- a tiny archipelago, allied with the US and located between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran -- has been hit by waves of unrest since 2011, when security forces crushed Shiite-led protests demanding an elected prime minister.
Hundreds of activists have since been jailed and some stripped of citizenship over what the government says is "terrorism" linked to Iran.
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Human rights groups have frequently said cases against activists in Bahrain -- men and women, religious and secular -- fail to meet the basic standards of fair trials.
Ruled for more than two centuries by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty, Bahrain has a majority Shiite Muslim population, according to unofficial estimates contested by the government.
Salman's opposition group, Al-Wefaq, was dissolved by court order in 2016. The cleric is currently serving a four-year sentence in a separate case on charges of "inciting hatred" in the kingdom.
Al-Wefaq hit out at the verdict against Salman as "political revenge".
"The majority of Bahrainis hold firm to the need to move from a tyrannical regime to a democracy," it said.
The United States had urged Bahrain's high court not to overturn an earlier acquittal of Salman. But US President Donald Trump's administration has treaded lightly on criticizing Gulf Arab allies over human rights and responded carefully on Monday.
The verdict "narrows the space for free expression and political activity, something historically protected under Bahrain's constitutional system," State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino tweeted.
After taking office, Trump eased restrictions on arms sales to Bahrain, a vital link for Western militaries which is home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet as well as a permanent British base.
The European Union said the verdict "marks a further step against dissenting voices and undermines the residual chances for an inclusive political dialogue in the Kingdom of Bahrain."
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