Alwaght-The Bahraini regime says hackers have targeted the Twitter account of its foreign minister and posted hostile messages.
The hack, which purported to be carried out in the name of a fringe militant group, came after the Bahraini authorities dissolved the kingdom’s last major opposition movement and after regime forces launched a brutal crackdown on the house of prominent Shiite scholar Sheikh Isa Qassem.
Bloodied bodies, demolished mosques and what appeared to be a child’s illustration of war rolled down the official Twitter page of Foreign Minister Khaled bin Ahmad al-Khalifa, a member of the royal family.
The pictures were captioned: “What the petrodollar media doesn’t show you,” a reference to the satellite television channels funded by neighboring Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The foreign ministry confirmed the hack, blaming it on the “terrorist party,” without elaborating.
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No group has claimed responsibility for the hacking, but several videos posted bore the logo of Saraya al-Mukhtar Brigade.
The developments come as after Bahraini security forces raided the house of Sheikh Qassem on May 23 in Diraz vilage.
Five Bahraini civilians were killed and 270 were arrested in the clampdown.
Meanwhile, a dozen Bahraini pro-democracy campaigners have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to five years over their alleged involvement in acts of violence and participation in anti-regime demonstrations.
On Saturday, Bahrain's Supreme Court of Appeal upheld the prison term of five years against seven defendants on charges of illegal gathering, setting tires alight along the streets and hurling petrol bombs at armored police vehicles in Manama’s suburban neighborhood of Juffair on August 2, 2013, Arabic-language Bahrain Mirror news website reported.
The court also ordered each of the convicts to pay 300 dinars ($795) for the damage caused by burning tires.
Five other defendants were each sentenced to three years in prison over forming “unlawful” gatherings of more than five people.
Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country in mid-February 2011.
