By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

MANAMA, Bahrain—A lower criminal court in Bahrain, led by a member of the Bahraini royal family, sentenced 17-year-old Ali Al Shofa to serve a year in prison for insulting remarks made about King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah of Bahrain. According to The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), Ali Al Shofa was arrested in a house raid in March and held in jail for two months while his case was under investigation. The 17-year-old was accused of tweeting insulting comments about Sheikh Hamad Al-Khalifa on the Twitter Account @alkawarahnews. He denied any relationship with this account and his lawyer submitted evidence that despite his client’s lack of access to the web the account was still being run by other people.

The sentencing appears to be a part of a wider crackdown on freedom of speech in Bahrain which has been occurring since the Arab Spring spread to the region in 2011.Earlier this year five Bahraini men were tried separately for allegedly insulting the Bahraini ruler via Twitter, each was sentenced to serve a year in prison. 25-year-old Bahraini lawyer Mahdi al-Basri, was arrested after the police conducted a raid on his home in Karrana. 34-year-old Mahmood ‘Abdul-Majeed ‘Abdullah Al-Jamri, 33-year-old Hassan ‘Abdali ‘Issa, 26-year-old Mohsen ‘Abdali ‘Issa, 36-year-old and ‘Ammar Makki Mohammad Al-Aali, 36, were all detained the day after Mahdi al-Basri’s arrest a day later. The Five men were sentenced to one year imprisonment on May 15, 2013.Mahdi al-Basri was accused of tweeting insulting Twitter messages in June 2012 on an account that was allegedly traced back to his IP address. He has denied all charges and argues that the tweets he was accused of posting were not tweeted from his personal Twitter account.

Amnesty Internati0onal has called for the immediate release of the accused men.  Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director at Amnesty International said “The authorities in Bahrain seem to be using every trick in the book to stop people from expressing their views.”

Amnesty International has argued that two years after the uprising in Bahrain, despite the government’s claims of having implemented reforms aimed at addressing the concerns of the Bahraini people, Bahrain has begun to further crack down on freedom of expression. On April 14, 2013 the country’s cabinet endorsed an amendment to Article 214 of the Penal Code. The amendment increases the penalty for insulting King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah, the country’s flag and other national symbols. The Amendment would make any insulting comment mad about the king or notational symbols punishable by steep fines and up to five years in prison.

The United States Department of State issued a report in April 2013 which claimed that the situation in Bahrain has not improved since the uprising two years ago. The Report said that “the most serious human rights problems included citizens’ inability to change their government peacefully” the report alleged that protesters are often detained on vague charges which in some cases have let to torture in prisons.

Albawaba – Bahrain Student Sentenced for Insulting King on Twitter – 30 June 2013

Al Jazeera – Bahrain Student Sentenced for Insulting King – 29 June 2013

Amnesty International – Bahrain Must Release Twitter Users Jailed for Allegedly Insulting the King – 16 May 2013

Al Jazeera – Bahrain Rejects US Report on Human Rights – 25 April 2013