A man is on trial for allegedly “stirring up sectarian hate” and “undermining civil peace” after he posted a video of himself driving around a town in Bahrain and making comments about its residents.
While still remanded in police custody, the Bahraini defendant denied, at the Lower Criminal Court, charges of publicly inciting hatred against a religious group and “provoking social discord”.
He reportedly recorded the video as he drove through the neighbourhood of Nabih Saleh community housing, addressing his Instagram page’s 17,000 followers.
Prosecutors stated that he had already been convicted and jailed on similar charges in the past, which means that, if found guilty, he will receive a harsher penalty this time around.
The video went viral after it was uploaded on April 20, sparking anger, discussions and responses from fellow social media figures, even receiving condemnation form MP Jalila Al Sayed.
He opens the clip by stating it is “impossible” for him to enter such a neighbourhood “without taunting its people” and goes on to make comments about the housing project and the residents’ cars.
“I just felt like mocking them, they’re good people,” the former parliamentary candidate and retired naval colonel said.
The post’s caption only had one word in it: “Tehran”.
After receiving widespread backlash and a police summons, he defended himself and stated that he is “90 per cent sure” that he will be found guilty of the charges.
“I didn’t defame anyone and didn’t make any claims that aren’t true,” he stated. “I’m not apologising for what I said.”
Nabih Saleh and north Sitra MP Al Sayed called for the defendant to be punished for his “hate speech” and called his statements “irresponsible” and “needlessly inflammatory”.
“The clip contained clearly discriminatory words and descriptions which attack citizens,” she stated. “Everyone on this land deserves dignity and honour, and no one has the right to diminish that.”
After receiving a report from the General Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security about a social media post “inciting hatred toward members of a sect”, the Public Prosecution investigated the matter and ordered his arrest.
A few days later, another social media figure parodied the man in the viral clip by using his image and voice in a video disparaging him. He was subsequently arrested on charges of defamation.
The second man had dressed up a goat in a traditional ghitra to make it resemble the defendant, and then added the viral clip’s audio on top of the footage of the farm animal.
Insulting a religious group is a crime under Bahrain’s Penal Code, carrying a maximum one-year prison sentence and a BD100 fine.
The punishment affects “any person who commits an offence by any method of expression against one of the recognised religious sects or ridicules the rituals thereof”.
The defendant’s side of the story will be heard in the trial’s next hearing on Sunday.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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