Bahrain : A defendant accused of offending a candidate running in the parliamentary elections in the Northern Governorate has been remanded in custody for seven days pending investigation. The Electoral Crime Investigation Committee, set up by the Public Prosecutor, leveled the counts of charges against the defendant and referred him to stand an urgent trial.
The defendant has been charged with photographing the candidate’s residence and sending the pictures to a social media account whose owner, who is residing abroad, posted the photos, along with offensive comments sullying the nominee’s behavior and morals.
The owner of the social media account has also been referred to stand urgent trial, said Committee Chairman Advocate General Mehanna Al Shaiji, noting that an investigation was initiated after the candidate filed a case.
Appearing before the probe committee, accused of misusing wired and wireless communication devices and publishing statements that sully the candidate and public slander, the defendant confessed to the charges, claiming that he wanted to influence the voters by tarnishing the nominee’s reputation.
“Freedom of opinion and expression is guaranteed for all people, provided that it does not infringe on the rights and freedoms of others as stipulated in the law and the constitution”, said Al Mehanna.
These include the right to run for office and exercise political rights in an atmosphere that guarantees the integrity and transparency of the electoral process, without targeting others’ freedoms by word or deed, and in light of electoral propaganda based on honest and fair competition.
