Bahrain Mirror: Bahrain's First High Criminal Court, presided over by judge Mohammed bin Ali Al Khalifa with the membership of judges Dia' Huraidi and Ali Al-Kaabi and Naji Abdullah as secretariat, began looking into the case of the accused journalist Hani Al-Fardan and editor-in-chief of Al-Wasat Newspaper, Mansour Al-Jamri, who are charged with slandering an extremist Salafist Member of Parliament named Abdul Halim Murad. The court decided to adjourn the hearing until September 14, 2015 for deliberation and pleading.

The member of the Salafist Al-Asalah group, MP Abdul Halim Murad, filed a complaint to the Public Prosecution in which he accused Hani Al-Fardan of publishing an article about him in Al-Wasat newspaper on February 5, 2014. The MP alleged that the article attributed to him facts that defame him, for Al-Fardan accused the MP of exporting terrorism to Syria, and illegal fundraising in addition to exerting great efforts over the past years to equip terrorist groups for fighting in Syria. The MP complained that these expressions defame him and subject him to contempt.

The prosecution listened to Murad's statements in which he said that the writer described him as an inciter of sedition and supporter of terrorism and that he strives to export terrorism to the Arab world. He further stated that there is a lot of Bahrainis who are working on helping Syrians by sending them humanitarian aid.

The prosecution said that the journalist Hani Al-Fardan and editor-in-chief of Al-Wasat Newspaper, Mansour Al-Jamir, during February 2014, publically attributed to the victim an incident that may subject him to punishment and contempt.

The Arabic Issue