*** ----> Court slaps ex-MP with 3 months jail term over sectarian remarks | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

Court slaps ex-MP with 3 months jail term over sectarian remarks

ManamaA former parliamentarian has been sentenced by the Lower Criminal Court to three-months imprisonment for making sectarian comments on social media earlier this year. 

The court also ordered a BD300 bail to stop executing the sentence.

According to a statement issued by the Public Prosecution, the ex-MP was interrogated on January 15 for posting insulting comments against a sect on his Twitter handle. 

The tweet, deleted after a few hours, drew severe criticism from several social media users including a renowned attorney, who pledged to hold him accountable for the comments.

Prosecution back then confirmed that the tweets defamed a leading figure revered and glorified in their sect.

However, during interrogations, the ex-MP pleaded not guilty claiming that he was only reposting the remarks of another individual and that he later removed it from his page.

The prosecutors charged him with insulting a revered and glorified figure as per Clause 2/310 of the Kingdom’s Penal Code which calls for punishing those who insult a symbol or a person glorified or considered sacred.