Bahrain Mirror: A member of the defence panel of former Secretary-General of the National Democratic Action Society "Wa'ad", Ebrahim Sharif, said the "investigation of Sharif tackled the same charges over which he was previously sentenced to five years in prison."

In a press conference held in the Wa'ad headquarters in Umm Al-Hassam, on Wednesday (July 29, 2015), a day following the extension of Sharif's detention for 15 additional days, the defense panel member said that "tackling these charges contradicts articles 307 and 308 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, stipulating that a criminal case ends if the sentence is previously served, and it shall not be re-considered."

"Sharif appeared before the Public Prosecution at the end of Ramadan and after questioning him and listening to his statements, he was arrested pursuant to article 147 of the Criminal Penal Code, that gave the prosecution this right," he further stated.
"I attended Sharif's investigation on Tuesday (July 28, 2015) and he was surprised as we were too when the prosecution ordered detaining him for 15 more days to complete investigations over a speech he delivered during the funeral procession of martyr Housam Al-Haddad," the defense panel member added.

The lawyer pointed out that "the maximum punishment of the two charges brought against Sharif reach up to 13 years. However, if, we, as law experts, review Sharif's speech, we find that it was peaceful and even called for building bridges of communication. Ebrahim Sharif was expressing a political view. There were no violent expressions in his speech, and that's why we expected he'd be released. We were surprised that his detention was renewed. We believe that the use of the legal right in renewing his detention was arbitrary."

The Arabic Issue