Dubai: A court in Bahrain has sentenced the secretary general of the Unitary National Democratic Rally society to five years in jail for “disseminating erroneous information and spreading tendentious rumours.”
Fadhil Abbas was also jailed on charges of spreading sensational allegations that could jeopardise military operations conducted by the armed forces, the High Criminal Court said on Sunday.
In April, Advocate General Wael Buallay said that the Public Prosecution had completed its investigation into the report of the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Forensic Science on a statement issued by the secretary general of a political society.
“In the statement he had issued on behalf of his political society, the secretary general criticised the military operations currently carried out by the Kingdom of Bahrain, alongside a number of brotherly countries, for the sake of restoring legitimacy and stability in Yemen,” Buallay said.
The statement may raise questions about the soundness and the legitimacy of the Kingdom’s political and military stances, the Advocate General said.
Buallay said the Public Prosecution referred the society’s secretary general to the High Criminal Court for trial.
The Public Prosecution released the society’s deputy secretary eneral and his assistant after the secretary general admitted he drafted and published the statement on his own.
The Advocate General said the Public Prosecution had charged the defendant with deliberately disseminating lies in a time of war, spreading tendentious rumours and propaganda that may harm the on-going military operations of the armed forces, a crime that is punishable by a jail term of up to ten years.
“The defendant was also accused of defaming brotherly countries publicly,” he added.
