A SUDDEN verdict was issued in a high-profile blasphemy case involving members of a controversial Bahraini organisation.
The High Criminal Appeals Court upheld the one-year suspended jail term for two senior members of Al Tajdeed Cultural and Social Society yesterday.
They were escorted by police officials to be transported to Jaw Prison from the courthouse in Manama.
On March 30, the Lower Criminal Court found the two Bahraini men guilty of publicly disrespecting Islam and insulting its prophets.
The defendants – a founding member of the organisation and the society’s president – had faced trial over a YouTube series discussing miracles performed by prophets as narrated in the Quran.
The 60-year-old religious researcher was charged over his authorship of the videos, while the 67-year-old president was charged with allowing them to be published.
Although the court had not set a verdict date, judges issued an unexpected decision yesterday to uphold the guilty ruling.
In the final hearing yesterday, defence lawyer Mohammed Ahmed told judges that the accusations against the men violated their right to free speech as enshrined in Bahrain’s Constitution.
The decision to convict the two men has been criticised by global and local free speech organisations.
The case began last year when authorities received complaints about lectures posted on Al Tajdeed’s official YouTube channel.
In the series, the researcher discusses a different excerpt from the Quran each week, offering logical and scientific explanations to the supernatural abilities of prophets.
He was charged with slandering Quranic verses (ayat) and doubting their validity.
All throughout the trial and the guilty verdict, the series continued with the latest episode posted last Wednesday.
The defendants also insisted through the entire process, both in testimonies, court speeches and in official statements, that arguing against mainstream interpretations of the holy book is protected by Bahraini freedom of speech laws.
The Lower Criminal Court’s verdict was based in part on a Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs statement which declared the videos ‘a clear violation of the text of the Quran and the Prophet’s teachings’.
Yesterday, the prosecution once again called on judges to reject the appeal and uphold the jail term.
“We stand here to defend the words of God,” Cyber Crimes Prosecution vice-head Zahra Murad told the court.
“The defendants never denied what they did, but at every turn affirmed that their abhorrent act was based in ‘renewal’ and ‘free speech’,” she said, referencing the society’s name (Tajdeed is Arabic for ‘renewal’).
“But what is renewal, your honour? Is it renewal to infringe on the Islamic religion or to disrespect God and his book?” she asked.
She reiterated that the prosecution’s case ‘isn’t a debate in which ideas can compete, but is a matter of protecting Islam’.
The defence lawyer claimed that the lawsuit was raised out of malice, motivated by religious leaders’ campaign against people who hold views different than them.
Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (BHRWS) secretary-general Faisal Fulad attended the hearing, ‘to ensure the fairness of legal proceedings’.
The society has been a source of controversy since it was established in 2002, but its recent publications have sparked widespread backlash among the community.
Prominent religious figures have issued statements opposing the society and calling for its boycott, while former members have alleged that the organisation is a ‘cult’.
Lawyer Ali Yahya, who raised the case against the men, previously told the GDN that he will be pursuing a civil suit against the senior members at the conclusion of the appeals trial.
The defendants can appeal the sentence at the Cassation Court.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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