Bahrain Defamation Laws: Civil & Criminal

Defamation in Bahrain is treated as both a civil wrong and a criminal offence. Criminal libel and slander sit in articles 364 to 372 of the Penal Code (Decree-Law No. 15 of 1976), online insult is reached through Law No. 60 of 2014 on Information Technology Crimes, and a victim can claim compensation for moral harm to honour and reputation under the Civil Law (Decree-Law No. 19 of 2001).

What counts as defamation in Bahrain

Bahraini law splits defamation into two main forms. Article 364 of the Penal Code covers libel, defined as accusing another person, by any method of publication, of an act that exposes them to legal penalty or to contempt. Article 365 covers slander, meaning publication that affects a person's honour or integrity without making a specific accusation. Article 366 deals with insults committed by telephone or face to face in the presence of a third party. The law applies to written, spoken, broadcast, and electronic communications, including social media. Courts have generally held that liability turns on a statement that lowers the person in the eyes of others and is communicated beyond the victim, with the relevant article fixing how the conduct is classified and punished.

Criminal defamation and penalties

Criminal defamation in Bahrain is found in the Penal Code chapter on libel, slander, and divulging secrets. Under article 364, libel is punishable by imprisonment for up to two years or a fine of up to BD 200; the penalty rises to imprisonment and a fine where the libel targets a public servant in the discharge of their duties, harms family reputation, or pursues an illegal purpose, and publication in a newspaper is an aggravating circumstance. Article 365 punishes slander by up to two years imprisonment and a fine of up to BD 100, with the same aggravating factors. Article 366 sets a lower tier, up to six months imprisonment or a fine of up to BD 50, for insults by telephone or in person before a third party. Article 370 separately punishes publishing private or family-life material, even if true, by up to six months and/or a fine of up to BD 50.

Watch out: Article 370 makes publishing private or family-life material an offence even when the content is true, so truth does not automatically protect a privacy-disclosure publication in Bahrain.

Defences

Article 367 of the Penal Code provides the main truth defence: there is no crime where the defendant proves the truth of an accusation made against a public servant or person entrusted with public service, where the matter is connected to that office or service, but no such proof is allowed if the incident is more than ten years old. For private individuals, truth is not a freestanding defence. Article 368 protects statements made by litigants in their verbal or written defence before courts or investigating authorities, within the limits of the right of defence. Article 369 protects good-faith reports of legally accountable conduct to judicial or administrative authorities. A defendant relying on any of these exceptions must plead and establish it.

Online defamation

Online and social-media defamation in Bahrain can be prosecuted under the ordinary Penal Code articles, which apply to any method of publication, and additionally under Law No. 60 of 2014 on Information Technology Crimes, which addresses offences committed through information technology and electronic means. A defamatory post, message, or comment shared electronically can therefore engage both the Penal Code and the IT crimes law. Authorities have publicly warned that misuse of social media, including insult and defamation, can lead to criminal liability. Because the IT crimes law and the Penal Code can both apply, the same online statement may attract more than one charge.

Watch out: The official text of Law No. 60 of 2014 is published in Arabic, and precise article-level penalties for online insult are best confirmed against the current Arabic gazette text or qualified local counsel before relying on a specific figure.

Civil liability and remedies

A person defamed in Bahrain can also sue for civil damages under the Civil Law (Decree-Law No. 19 of 2001). Bahraini civil law allows compensation for moral as well as material damage, and moral damage expressly includes harm to a person's honour, reputation, and social standing. A civil claimant must generally show a wrongful act, damage, and causation. Awards are assessed by the court rather than fixed by a published cap, and a victim may also seek compensation as a civil claimant within the criminal case. In a criminal defamation case the result is a sentence of imprisonment, a fine, or both, while it is the civil action that produces a money award to the victim.

Limitation and how a claim is brought

Defamation against a private individual in Bahrain is generally pursued on the complaint of the victim, and under the Code of Criminal Procedure a complaint in such personal-action cases will generally not be accepted more than three months after the victim learns of the offence and the offender, unless the law provides otherwise. The complaint is filed with the Public Prosecution, which may refer the matter to the criminal courts, while a civil claim for damages is filed in the civil courts or joined to the criminal proceedings. As of 2026, given the short complaint window for criminal defamation, a person who believes they have been defamed should act quickly and is often advised to begin with a formal demand for an apology, correction, and removal of the content.