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A Bahraini court on Thursday sentenced Zainab al-Khawaja, the daughter of a prominent imprisoned opposition activist, to one month in jail for trying to organise an anti-government protest, her mother said.

Bahrain has been in turmoil since a pro-democracy protest movement erupted last year after revolts in Egypt and Tunisia. 

Khawaja, the daughter of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike for more than three months, was arrested a month ago for trying to stage a protest in the capital Manama during Bahrain's Formula One Grand Prix. 

She was fined 200 dinars ($530) on Monday on a separate charge related to insulting a government employee.

"She was supposed to be released since she has already served the jail term," Zainab's mother, Khadija Almousawi, told Reuters news agency by telephone from Manama. 

"She refused to pay the fine and the judge said she would remain in jail for (a further) 40 days unless she pays it."  

Almousawi said she had visited her daughter in prison on Wednesday, and that she had been on hunger strike since Sunday in support of another imprisoned female political activist, Massouma al-Sayed, who was also on hunger strike. 

"She (Zainab) had been taken to hospital four times since Sunday because her blood sugar was very low ... She looked very pale." 

Bahrain's Sunni Muslim rulers have rejected calls from the mostly Shia protesters for an elected government. 

Violence has intensified in recent months, and protesters clash with riot police almost every day.

The authorities say the opposition are being supported and encouraged by Shia Iran, and have vowed to get tough on protests as talks with the opposition have stalled. [Reuters]

Yemeni troops fought Islamist fighters in southern cities on Thursday, as the government pressed ahead with a US-backed offensive to help stabilise the impoverished Arab state that has turned into a base for al-Qaeda.

At least 33 fighters were killed in heavy clashes with the Yemeni army on the western outskirts of the city of Jaar, in
southern Abyan province, army officials and residents said.

Among the dead were a Somali and an Egyptian fighting with the insurgents, they said. Yemeni warplanes also launched strikes on Jaar, but no casualties have been reported, residents said.

Western and Gulf Arab countries have watched with mounting alarm as a political crisis in Yemen has given al-Qaeda the opportunity to develop a base from which to launch attacks around the world. 

Insurgents in the south exploited mass protests last year against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to seize large
swathes of territory. 

In the strategically important city of Zinjibar, Islamist militants on Thursday launched a counter-attack against government forces from the eastern parts of the city but were pushed back, a local army official said. 

One soldier was wounded in the fighting. [Reuters]

Evan Hill our producer in Egypt writes about how one family tells Al Jazeera how the election has provoked divisions within generations.

Jamal Elshayyal our correspondent in Alexandria sent this image of a box full of votes caster freely sealed and waiting to be counted in Alexandria.