Public Prosecution: No charges filed against demonstrating for external political reasons

Manama, Feb. 18 (BNA): The Public Prosecution has denied as untrue claims that a defendant had been jailed for burning the Israeli flag and stressed that no such a charge had been levelled against him. "With reference to the article published in Al Bilad newspaper on February 14 under the headline 'Three-year ruling confirmed against demonstrator for burning the Israeli flag', the Public Prosecution did not refer any accused to the Criminal Court on demonstrating for foreign political reasons," Hamad Shaheen, the Head of Public Prosecution, said. "After referring to the Public Prosecution database regarding cases on May 30, 2019, the date of the incident mentioned by the journalist, there was a case in which two defendants were charged for starting, along with others, a fire in furniture on a public road putting lives at risk and attempting to spread chaos. Their action resulted in closing the road and obstructing traffic." The prosecutor stressed that the record of the fire incident did include anything about the burning of the flag of a country. It was clear that the public prosecution did not accuse the defendants of burning a flag as claimed by the journalist, he added. The prosecutor said that one of the defendants claimed in his statements in the police report that those who participated with him in blocking the road burned the flag of a country and he repeated the allegation when he was questioned with the knowledge of the prosecution, but his claim was not substantiated by witnesses in their testimonies. "In addition, when the accused appeared before the court, he did not mention the flag-burning allegation. In fact, he completely denied that he committed the crime, which confirms that the charges were participation in riots, vandalism and arson that endangered lives and resulted in blocking the road and obstructing traffic."