Bahrain: Preacher remanded over religious contempt

Cairo: Bahraini prosecutors have ordered a Muslim preacher be remanded in custody pending further questioning over defaming companions of the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) in a sermon.

The accused was seen in an online video delivering a sermon on a religious occasion making “explicit and implicit” remarks meant to insult and underestimate the Prophet’s companions “in a way that stirs sedition among people of the country and encourages extremism,” a senior prosecution official was quoted as saying today.

He was summoned and interrogated by public prosecution that faced him with footage of his sermon and rebutted his defence, prosecution chief Ebrahim Al Banjasim said.

“Freedom of opinion and expression is enshrined in Bahrain’s constitution and law, provided this freedom does not infringe religion, its precepts and symbols or stirs discord and sectarianism among society’s members,” the official said, according to Al Bilad newspaper.

Last week, Bahrain’s top court upheld a one-year jail sentence against another preacher convicted of lampooning Islam’s seventh century orthodox caliphs, who ruled after the death of the Prophet Mohammed.