11/12 November 2015

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

Bahrain opposition
figure jailed on
incitement charges, BNA
reports
A
Bahraini
criminal
court sentenced senior
opposition figure Majeed
Milad to two years in prison
for incitement to public
disobedience of the law,
state-run Bahrain News
Agency (BNA) reported.
Authorities
arrested
Milad, a senior member of
the Al Wefaq opposition
political party, in June.
BNA quoted prosecutor
Ahmed al-Qurashi as
saying Milad had the right
of appeal. Milad's lawyer,
Abdulla Al Shamlawi, also
reported the sentencing in
a tweet.

In July, the U.S State

Department
said
the
detention and prosecution
of Milad and other figures,
including Al Wefaq leader
Ali Salman, raised "serious
concerns about restrictions
on freedom of expression in
Bahrain."

Bahrain responded at the

time by saying all its actions
followed due legal process.
Salman, sentenced in June
to four years in jail after he
was convicted of inciting
unrest, is due in court on
Thursday for a hearing of an
appeal in his case.

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Bahrain do not typically

release details in such cases.

Bahrain sentences Shiite

opposition figure to 2
years
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP)
A criminal court in Bahrain
has sentenced a member
of the Gulf Arab country's
largest Shiite opposition
group to two years in prison
on charges related to his
political activism.
The Shiite political group
al-Wefaq said Wednesday
that Majeed Milad was
sentenced for a speech he
gave in which he expressed
his opinion about political
reconciliation with the
government. The statement
did not provide further
details. Criminal courts
and state-owned media in

crushed Shiite-led protests

a month after they erupted
on February 14, 2011.

Bahrain jails leading

Shiite opposition figure
Dubai, Nov 11 (AFP) A
Bahraini court today jailed
a member of the main
opposition Al-Wefaq bloc
for two years for "inciting
non-compliance with the
law", the Shiite grouping
and authorities said.
Majeed Milad, a member
of Al-Wefaq's delegation
which took part in a
"national dialogue" that
failed
despite
several
rounds of negotiations,
was handed a two-year
sentence for making "a
speech...
demanding
political reform", the bloc
said.
Bahraini

authorities

The gap has since been

growing
between
the
Sunni minority authorities
and
their
opponents,
mainly from the Gulf
state's Shiite majority.
In a statement received
by AFP, Bahrain's public
prosecutor Ahmed alQorashi said "the lower
criminal
court
today
sentenced an individual
to two years in prison on
charges of inciting noncompliance with the law".

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FIFA passes Sheikh

Salman as election
candidate
ZURICH (AP) -- Sheikh
Salman bin Ibrahim Al
Khalifa was listed as an
official FIFA presidential
candidate on Thursday,
while Musa Bility of
Liberia was left out after
failing an integrity check.
FIFA announced the five
declared candidates for
the Feb. 26 election, with
Michel Platini a potential
sixth
man.
Platini's
candidature
was
not
judged at this stage by the
FIFA election committee
pending his ethics case.

Milad, who was arrested July

1, once held a municipallevel post in the capital,
Manama.
Hundreds of opposition
activists have been sentenced
to prison in Bahrain since
2011, when protests broke
out among the country's
Shiite majority demanding
greater political rights from
the Sunni monarchy.

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The
five
candidates
are: Sheikh Salman of
Bahrain, Prince Ali bin
Al-Hussein of Jordan,
Jerome Champagne of
France, Gianni Infantino
of Switzerland and Tokyo
Sexwale of South Africa.
Sheikh Salman passed
an integrity check by
FIFA's election panel
despite protests filed by
rights groups in Bahrain.
Activists claimed Sheikh
Salman took part in a
process of abusing rights
of
athlete
protesters
during
pro-democracy
events in 2011.

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him privately.

FIFA Ethics Review

Clears 5 Candidates to
Succeed Sepp Blatter
ZURICH Five of the
seven men hoping to
succeed Sepp Blatter as
president of FIFA, the
governing body of world
soccer, have passed an
internal ethics review and
have been formally cleared
to run in a February
election,
the
groups
electoral
committee
announced on Thursday.
The electoral committee
rejected the candidacy
of Musa Bility of Liberia,
in view of the content
of the integrity check
report relating to him,
but declined to be more
specific, saying it had
explained its decision to

The seventh candidate,

Michel Platini of France,
the head of the European
confederation
UEFA,
submitted paperwork to
enter the race on Oct. 8,
only hours before he was
provisionally suspended
by FIFA amid a corruption
investigation by the Swiss
authorities.
The chairman of the
electoral
committee,
Domenico Scala, has said
he will not consider the
candidacy of Mr. Platini,
who was once regarded
as the favorite to replace
Mr. Blatter, or perform an
ethics review of him until
the suspension is lifted.
Mr. Platini has denied any
wrongdoing.

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