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THE nation’s highest court has thrown out a final appeal by an attorney who was found guilty of slandering a parliamentary by-election candidate last year by alleging that he was receiving funding from a foreign group which has been designated as a terrorist organisation.
Last year, the Lower Criminal Court sentenced the Bahraini man to two months in prison and fined BD500.
The verdict was later upheld by the High Criminal Appeals Court.
The social media personality was found guilty of four charges, including using a method of telecommunications to disturb the victim.
The incident took place in September 2024, during the second round of parliamentary elections.
“The appellant spread a false statement related to an election, with the goal of affecting the results of the poll,” read the Cassation Court verdict yesterday.
“He claimed that the campaign of a current MP, then-candidate in the Muharraq by-elections, was financed by a political movement overseas, and was influenced by its political orientation.
“He published videos in which he spoke about the victim, insulting him publicly and harming his reputation, and these were widely circulated on Instagram and via WhatsApp.
“In the clips, he treated the candidate with contempt, making a far-fetched claim that he was chosen or appointed by the terrorist group’s leader.”
The Lower Criminal Court verdict had stated that the lawyer had shared two videos with his around 200,000 followers in which he “made the victim the focus of his derision”, using “hurtful words to insult his standing as a candidate”.
Despite the man’s apparent attempts to hurt the Muharraq MP’s campaign, the latter was ultimately elected to fill the vacant seat left behind by his predecessor, who was expelled from parliament.
Mohammed Al Hussaini had his parliamentary membership revoked in July 2024 after it emerged that he had failed to disclose his dual nationality at the time of contesting the November 2022 national elections.
The GDN previously reported that Bahrain’s election rules allow candidates to have only dual GCC citizenship; Mr Al Hussaini reportedly also had Pakistani nationality.
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