A prominent opposition figure who has just been released from jail on a royal pardon will go on trial in Bahrain this month on new charges of urging the overthrow of the government, state news agency BNA said on Wednesday.

BNA did not name the accused man but the Akhbar Al Khaleej and Al Wasat newspapers said it refered to Ibrahim Sharif, the former head of the secular National Democratic Action Society, or Waad.

The Advocate General said public prosecutors had referred him to the High Criminal Court on charges that also included "threats and inciting hatred against the political regime". The trial will start on August 24.

In June, Sharif was released by a royal pardon after more than four years in prison. He was re-arrested three weeks later following a July 10 speech in which he had allegedly called for the overthrow of the government.

"The defendant has revealed that he is still committed to his hateful and criminal activities for which he was previously convicted," Bahrain's Public Prosecution office said in a statement, without naming the person in question.  - Reuters