LEADING members of a cultural society are standing trial in two criminal cases for allegedly defaming Islam and insulting the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) on Twitter and YouTube.
The three Bahraini defendants belong to Al Tajdeed Cultural and Social Society, a Bahraini organisation which aims to renew and reinterpret the teachings of Islam (Tajdeed is Arabic for ‘renewal’.)
Heated statements from the Cyber Crime Prosecution’s vice-head and the defendants’ lawyers were heard in the Lower Criminal Court yesterday.
A statement by the society’s vice-president, who is a defendant in both cases, was read out as he could not attend the hearing because he is infected with Covid-19.
A long statement by the vice-president was read out aloud by his co-defendant in the second case who is a main researcher at the society.
The youngest suspect, who is his father’s co-defendant in the first case, also did not appear at the hearing as he is living in the UK.
In the first case, the young Bahraini posted a thread of tweets discussing the validity of a theory that discredits the Islamic messenger’s revelations, and was accused of insulting the Prophet. His father was charged as an accessory for amplifying the post.
The second case involves a YouTube video posted by the researcher, who authored four of the society’s major publications about stories in the Quran.
In the YouTube video, the Bahraini man discussed Quranic chapters that narrate supernatural abilities of prophets. The society’s vice-president was charged for allegedly having been a collaborator in the production of the video.
The Cyber Crime Prosecution’s head addressed the court, accusing the defendants of blasphemy and disrespecting Islam.
She began her statement by referencing several verses of the Quran that affirmed the infallibility of the Prophet’s message.
“In the offensive tweets, the defendant alleged that the Prophet had a neurological disorder – temporal lobe epilepsy – under the pretence of intellectual discussion,” she said.
“And in the video, the other defendant interpreted Surat Al Fil (‘The Elephant’ sura) in a way that constitutes a severe transgression on Islam.
“This speech is intended at making people doubt the fundamentals of our sacred religion.”
She added that the social media posts in question violate and insult Islamic beliefs, and doubt the Prophet’s revelations which make up the Quran.
In response, defence lawyer Mohamed Ahmed told the judge that the Public Prosecution cherry-picked the parts of his client’s series of tweets, taking them out of context and omitting ones that deny the client’s belief in the theory in discussion.
He added that the defendant has the knowledge to discuss the topic of epilepsy because he is a physician and internal medicine consultant.
The final hearings will be on April 30 when the verdict will be issued.
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