Six activists have been sentenced to a year in jail for insulting King Hamad of Bahrain. The activists insulted the King on Twitter reported the BBC.
The BBC reported that they were convicted for what the prosecutor called the "misuse of freedom of expression."
"He said freedom of opinion and expression were guaranteed by the Gulf Arab island state's constitution, law and international conventions, but should not be used in a way that contradicted the norms of society," reported Reuters.
The convictions on Wednesday are part of bigger crackdowns throughout Gulf Arab states against what is perceived to be dissent and disrespect expressed via social media and they have started to have tougher media laws.
It was not immediately known whether the six had any roll in the pro-democracy movement shaking Bahrain.
"Home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, Bahrain has faced unrest since February of that year, pitting a Shi'ite Muslim-dominated opposition against the minority Sunni-led government, led by the Al Khalifa family," reported Reuters.
One of the men convicted was lawyer Mahdi al-Basri. He was held responsible for tweets insulting King Hamad and the ruling al-Khalifa family. Mr. al-Basri didn't send the tweets himself but was the lawyer for a community account that posted the tweets.
Mr al-Basri "wasn't even involved in any human rights cases and yet he has been jailed," an anonymous human rights lawyer told the BBC..
"Another prominent human rights activist, Zainab al-Khawaja, who was jailed for three months in March, was sentenced last week to an additional three months in prison on a charge related to an illegal gathering," reported Reuters. Her father Abdulhadi al-Khawaja is currently serving a life sentence for plotting to overthrow the government.
"Both he and his daughter have been refused family visits for refusing to wear prison uniforms," reported The BBC.
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