Bahrain Court Postpones Rajab Verdict

Bahrain Court Postpones Rajab Verdict
POMED – 13 August, 2012

The appeals verdict for prominent Bahraini human rights leader Nabeel Rajab, imprisoned after sending a tweet calling for the kingdom’s prime minister to resign, will be issued Thursday according to Rajab’s lawyer. The decision had been scheduled to be announced Sunday for Rajab’s twitter comments as well as three other charges relating to illegal assemblies. Nineteen U.S. lawmakers had written a letter prior to the original Sunday appeals date calling for Rajab’s release, as did the rights leader’s family calling for the international community to put pressure on the Bahraini government.

In addition, another court sentenced a 19 year-old Shiite man to two years in prison after he insulted Aisha, the Sunni-revered wife of the Prophet Mohammed in comments made on the Internet. The court alleged the man’s comments were ”phrases that are too dirty and degrading to mention, defaming the mother of the believers, Aisha.”

Also, the kingdom’s foreign minister announced that Bahrain’s ambassador to Iran will return to his post in Tehran for the first time in over a year. The ambassador had been recalled after Iran heavily criticized the government’s response to the protest movement. …more