Reporters
Without Borders (RSF) denounces the conviction of Bahraini journalist
and blogger Faisal Hayyat for allegedly insulting religion in a tweet.
Placed in pre-trial detention on 9 October, he now faces three months in
prison.
On 29 November a Bahraini court sentenced Faisal Hayyat, a journalist who hosts a satirical channel on YouTube, to three months in prison for a tweet deemed to have insulted a “religious symbol and group.” It is not yet known if he plans to appeal.
The Criminal Investigation Directorate interrogated and arrested Hayyat on 9 October, a few days after he posted an open letter
to the Bahraini authorities on social networks in which he referred to
the conditions in which he was detained in 2011 and criticized
governmental corruption and free speech violations.
