A Bahraini appeals court on Monday ramped up Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman's jail sentence on charges of inciting violence to nine years from the original four, a judicial source said.

Salman was convicted in July 2015, drawing condemnation from human rights groups as well as both the United States and Iran.

His Al-Wefaq bloc condemned Monday's verdict as "unacceptable and provocative", and said it "entrenches the exacerbating political crisis" in Bahrain.