Bahrain Mirror: The National Action Democratic Society (Wa'ad) deemed the charges brought by Bahrain's Public Prosecution against Wa'ad's former Secretary-General, Ebrahim Sharif, over which he's being detained and to stand before a court on August 24, 2015, fabricated with no legal grounds, stressing that they are political charges that aim at undermining the freedom of opinion and expression in Bahrain, confiscating the people's right to express their political and human rights views concerning the rapid developments taking place in the country such as tightening the grip on political opposition activism, voiding all the principles of the National Action Charter and returning to the measures of state security law.

Wa'ad further stated that the charges brought by the Public Prosecution, which are "promoting the change of the regime by force and publicly inciting hatred and contempt against the regime" are but fabricated by the prosecution and the criminal investigations office. The regime wants to continue detaining Sharif after he had served four years and three months out of the five-year-prison term issued against him in 2012, as he served 5 months more than the three quarters of his sentence, while the competent parties did nothing to implement the law that regulates these cases.

The society stressed that it adheres to Sharif's stance which he expressed before the criminal investigations department and public prosecution, as he stressed that he only practiced his legitimate constitutional rights in expressing his opinion, and what he said in his speech, over which he is being prosecuted, comes within the framework of freedom of expression that is constitutionally guaranteed in all the related international charters, namely the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in addition to the National Action Charter.

Wa'ad demanded the immediate release of Ebrahim Sharif since he is a prisoner of conscience and he is being prosecuted over expressing the views that he adopts, which represents a clear violation of the constitution and all conventions and does not comply with speeches about the political and economic reform repeated time and time again by the officials in the country. The society also pointed out that Bahrain is in urgent need of easing the domestic situation by releasing all prisoners of conscience and opening a new page as part of a political project that aims at accomplishing real reform that protects the rights of all citizens and puts our country on the track of states that follow a real democratic approach, paving the way to establishing a modern democratic and civilian state that guarantees and protects human rights according to the International Bill of Human Rights, freedom, democracy and social justice in a state of equal citizenship that incriminates discrimination, marginalization and all forms of alienation.

The Arabic Issue