Nabeel Rajab posted false and malicious tweets which do not fall within the freedom of expression

Manama, Jan. 10(BNA): With reference to the call made by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on January 4 regarding the "immediate and unconditional release" of Nabeel Rajab, who is serving a five-year sentence on charges of "releasing false news during wartime and publicly insulting brotherly states and the Ministry of Interior", the General Directorate of Anti-corruption and Economic and Electronic Crimes states that convict Nabeel Rajab, through his Twitter account, posted false and malicious tweets harming the civil peace and social harmony. They amount to legal violations which do not fall within the protections for freedom of expression that are guaranteed by Bahrain’s Constitution. In March 2015, he posted false news and rumours to his followers harming the operations of the Bahraini armed forces and the forces of brotherly countries during a time of war. For example, on 26 March, he posted images of bodies claiming they were the consequence of the war in Yemen, while in reality they were images of incidents in Idlib in Syria that were published on 23 September 2014. He also posted on 31 March 2015 images of bodies again claiming that they were the consequences of the war in Yemen, while they were images of incidents in Gaza Palestine. He has also re-tweeted tweets and attached with them images of wounded people, claiming that hundreds of inmates in the Jaw prison had suffered fractures and hundreds were bleeding from their heads because of physical attacks and torture. These claims were, again, demonstrably untrue. He insulted the Ministry of Interior and the General Directorate of Reformation and Rehabilitation through his tweets. An investigation showed that he was the one who had posted the tweets. Therefore the required legal steps were taken and arrest and search warrants were obtained from the Public Prosecutor. He was arrested and the electronic devices that he was using to post the tweets on his account were seized. (MOI)