Supreme Criminal Court Acquits the Journalist Hani Alfardan

The Bahraini Press Association- London 19 November 2015
The First Supreme Criminal Court in Bahrain has acquitted on 17 November 2015 the writer and journalist with the Bahraini newspaper “Alwasat” MrHani Alfradan from defamation charges against the Salafi Abdulhalim Murad MP.
Murad has filed a case against Alfardan accusing the latter of causing him emotional damages because of an article Alfardan has published in “Alwasat” newspaper, in which he stated that the Bahraini MP encourages terrorism, seeks to export it abroad, collects money illegally, and that he has been working for years on preparing terrorist groups to fight in Syria.
Based on this complaint the public prosecution office accused Hani Alfardan and the Editor in Chief Mansour Aljamri of accusing Murad of conducting certain activities that would make him exposed to punishment and disdain in February 2014.
Alfardan described the decision to acquit him of the defamation of Abdulhalim Murad charges as a historic decision through his account on Twitter.
The court stated that the appeal against the criticism of the victim’s conduct was based on good will and that the intention of the defendant in this was out of willingness to protect the public interest and not based on personal grudges nor ill feelings, and that the criticism was aimed at the victim in his capacity as a civil servant. The court also said that the criticism was only made after the defendant became confident of the correctness and trueness of each accusation and that he has supported each of them with evidence before the court, therefore the court has recognized the evidences presented by the defendant. Based on the aforementioned and on the denial of both accused individuals of the accusations directed at them and given that both of them have cited the right to public criticism as per the freedom of opinion and freedom of journalism, which entitle them to publish the material they obtain and that their criticism was related to the society and its wellbeing and aimed at protecting the public interest and it has only been published after confirming its trueness and correctness. Subsequently, the accusation [of defamation] does not have a legal base therefore the first defendant and the second defendant should, and will be, acquitted of what they have been accused of in line with article 255 of the Criminal Procedures Code.
It is noteworthy that a number of electronic accounts have published recordings and photos of the victim MP holding weapons and standing by extremist fighters in the war in Syria.