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Bahrain opposition leader jailed after Twitter post

January 14, 2015 at 3:43 pm

A Bahraini court yesterday sentenced opposition leader and member of Al-Wefaq Association, Jamil Kazim, to six months in prison for a tweet he published about election bribes.

The Bahrain News Agency said Attorney General Nayef Yousef confirmed that the Lower Criminal Court had sentenced former MP Kazim to six months in prison and fined him 500 dinars ($1,326).

The charges come after Kazim attacked the Bahraini government on Twitter accusing it of bribing some candidates to take part in the legislative elections in November.

The High Electoral Committee filed the complaint against Kazim.

Kazim’s Al-Wefaq Association quoted him as saying that the charges brought against him “were purely political and lacked evidence”.

Meanwhile, five opposition associations stressed their full solidarity and support for Kazim.

They said his remarks came within the remit of “freedom of opinion and expression backed with evidence and guaranteed under the constitution”.