INCREASED prison time or fines are on the way for people circulating photographs, news and comments in violation of personal and family privacy and aimed at inciting contempt and hatred in society.
Under amendments to Article 370 of the Penal Code, the jail term could be up to a year rather than the current three months, and fines may be up from the present BD50 to BD500.
In addition, under amendments to Article 354 of the Penal Code, people spreading sleaze publicly – whether in gestures, writing, verbally or any other way – would face between three and six months in jail, or fines of between BD100 and BD500.
Both the amendments for tougher punishments, originally presented by the Shura Council, have been drafted as one by the government since they are inter-related and referred to Parliament for review.
“We believe the current punishments for spreading photographs, news and comments with bad intentions don’t lead to general deterrence,” said the Cabinet in its written explanation.
“Also, it is clear that the current punishments don’t provide protection to personal and family privacy or guards society from such improper destructive acts.
“The presence of modern technology and social media has led some to invade others’ privacy and disclose their secrets as if it is a normal thing despite it stirring contempt.
“The move to toughen up punishments will ensure that the deterrence matches the crime and for that the government backs the move without any objections.”
The Legislation and Legal Opinion Commission has also backed the move without any objections.
However, it urged legislators in Parliament and the Shura Council to consider the Penal Code in entirety in future when presenting amendments to ensure punishments for crimes continue to follow a certain cohesive pattern.
The law is currently being reviewed by Parliament’s foreign affairs, defence and national security committee.
The government has preferred the Shura Council’s amendment to the Penal Code rather than another presented by Parliament covering the same purpose.
Parliament’s amendments to Article 370 featured jail terms of up to five years and fines of up to BD5,000; however, these were found ‘unreasonable’.
The punishment also extends to those convicted of editing or broadcasting the pictures or videos, and those who record and broadcast a private conversation, spread rumours that would harm others, and spread pictures of those injured in accidents or killed.
However, Parliament has said that, without an official complaint from the victims in a given time-frame, such acts could not be considered as a crime.
mohammed@gdnmedia.bh
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