Bahrain Mirror: Bahrain's Fourth High Criminal Court, presided over by judge Ali Al-Dhahrani, adjourned on Tuesday (December 15, 2015) the trial of the prominent opposition figure and Secretary-General of the National Democratic Society (Wa'ad), Ebrahim Sharif, until January 10, 2016 for pleading with the continued detention of Sharif.

The court listened in this hearing to the statements of two defence witnesses who said that Sharif "is a man who calls for peace and rejects violence, demanding a constitutional monarchy."

The Public Prosecution had accused Sharif, on July 10, 2015, of the following: promoting the overthrow of the political regime by unlawful means, as he urged in one of his public speeches people to start a revolution against the ruling regime and confront the legitimate authorities, even sacrificing themselves in order to achieve regime change, which is against the provisions of the constitution and the law.

The prosecution also claimed that he publicly incited hatred and contempt against the ruling regime by accusing the authorities of marginalizing a faction of the Bahraini society, discriminating against it and violating rights, and also called for continuing the movement aimed at changing the regime in power.

Sharif, who spent 4 years in prison, was released by a royal pardon after serving over three quarters of his prison term, yet the authorities re-arrested him after less than a month of his release because of a speech he delivered during the funeral of martyr Husam Al-Haddad in Muharraq.

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