A Bahraini court cut on Tuesday the jail terms against rights activist Nabeel Rajab, who is behind bars for taking part in anti-regime protests, from a total of three years to two, lawyers said.

The appeals court reduced two jail sentences in cases involving attendance at unauthorised protests from one year to six months each, while it upheld a one-year jail term in a third case, the lawyers said.

It also overturned a sentence against the Shiite activist over a conviction for insulting security forces, for which he had been fined 300 dinars (795 dollars), they said.

Rajab, 48, who heads the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, had led anti-government protests following a crackdown on Shiite-dominated demonstrations against the Sunni Al-Khalifa regime in March 2011.

Bahrain continues to witness sporadic Shiite-led protests that have often spiralled into clashes with police.

According to the International Federation for Human Rights, a total of 80 people have been killed in Bahrain since the violence began on February 14, 2011.

The interior ministry says that more than 700 people, including a number of police officers, have been injured in protests.