AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Amnesty International is calling on Manama to quash Wednesday’s conviction against Bahraini opposition figure Ebrahim Sharif.
Sharif, who headed the now-dissolved National Democratic Action Society (Waad), was slapped with a six-month prison sentence over a mere tweet deemed critical of Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir.
“It is flabbergasting that someone can be made to appear before a court and stand trial, let alone serve a sentence, for simply having expressed their opinion on Twitter,” said Amnesty’s Middle East Research Director, Lynn Maalouf.
“Ebrahim Sharif’s trial and sentencing is simply the latest development in the Bahraini authorities’ sustained and systematic repression against their own citizens,” she added.
For his part, the Director of Advocacy at the Bahrain Institute of Rights of Democracy (BIRD), Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, believes that the verdict underscores Manama’s “paranoia”.
“Today’s judgment is a slap in the face to freedom of expression and demonstrates the paranoia of the ruling family about the exposure of the human rights abuses of their fellow Arab dictators,” Alwadaei said.
Sudan has been gripped by protests in recent months that were sparked by a government decision to increase the price of bread.
The demonstrations have since spread across the country and protesters are now demanding al-Bashir’s ouster from office.
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source : LuaLua TV
Thursday
14 March 2019
1:33:38 PM
933089
Amnesty International is calling on Manama to quash Wednesday’s conviction against Bahraini opposition figure Ebrahim Sharif.