Al Wefaq leader jailed in Bahrain for ‘false claim’ tweets

Manama: A court in Bahrain has sentenced a leader from Al Wefaq Society to six months in jail and a BD500 (Dh4,871) fine.

The Lower Criminal Court ruled on Tuesday that Jamil Kadhim, the head of the society’s consultative body, was guilty of disrupting the electoral process.

“During proceedings, the court heard that the defendant posted a series of fabricated claims on social media, which deliberately undermined the electoral process and its procedures,” Advocate General Nayef Yousif said in remarks carried by Bahrain News Agency (BNA).

“The court also heard that the defendant had specifically made false claims, suggesting election candidates had received payment in return for running for office. When later questioned, however, the defendant failed to produce any evidence to support his allegations.”

The defendant’s claims occurred “at a time when some election candidates were the victims of an intimidation campaign of targeted violence, which had seen serious arson attacks on their homes, work premise and vehicles, in an attempt to prevent them from running for office,” the advocate general added.

“The High Elections Committee had first alerted the Public Prosecution about his claims on social media at the time and an investigation was subsequently launched. The Public Prosecution questioned the defendant and heard the testimonies of his witnesses, before referring the case to the Lower Criminal Court on the charge of disrupting the electoral process in a way that might affect its integrity,” he said.

On October 12, judges of the High Elections Committee gave Kadhim, a former lawmaker, one week to submit to the panel evidence that would support the allegations he had posted on his twitter account on October 9 regarding the electoral process.

However, on October 20, the committee said that he failed to meet the deadline.

“He not only failed to submit evidence that would support his allegations, but also carried on his claims and announced publicly that he had documents and details of what he had called ‘political money’ and pledged to reveal them at the appropriate time,” the committee said in a statement.

“As making such claims and failing to support them with compelling evidence will affect the integrity of the electoral process and disrupt its procedures, the issue will be referred to the Public Prosecution, and Jamil Kadhim will have to submit his documents to the judiciary,” it added.

According to the committee, the allegations about the existence of violations that affected the fairness of the electoral process and about funds being paid to candidates in some specific constituencies were not just opinions but serious claims that directly affected the integrity and procedures of the electoral process.

It added that a person had made similar claims in 2010, but withdrew his statement when he failed to provide the evidence.

Parliamentary and municipal elections were held in Bahrain on November 22 and 29. Al Wefaq boycotted the elections, repeating a stance it took in 2002, but reversed in 2006 and 2010.

The quadrennial elections were the fourth to be held following a constitutional hiatus of almost 30 years and the promulgation in 2002 of a new constitution that allowed women to run in national polls.