A BAHRAIN court has dropped a case against women's rights activist Ghada Jamsheer, saying it was brought against her illegally by the Public Prosecution.

The defamation accusations by three Sharia judges were brought against Ms Jamsheer in 2001, 2002 and 2003. The High Criminal Court ruled that the Public Prosecution acted illegally when it pushed the cases against her to court in 2005, years after they should have been heard.

The law states that the cases should be taken to court by the Public Prosecution within three months of the incidents and these dates were long past, said Ms Jamsheer's lawyer Mohammed Al Mutawa said. This brings to an end the main case against Ms Jamsheer, which could have theoretically put her in jail for up to 15 years.

She was accused of defaming the judges in the media, distributing publications which are claimed to be illegal and also calling a judge and swearing at him on the phone, all of which she denied. She was said to have called the judges backward, corrupt and careless.

Ms Jamsheer previously said in court that she was being victimised by the Public Prosecution because she had called for the resignation of its head, Shaikh Abdul Rahman bin Jaber Al Khalifa, at a decent demonstration. She questioned why the cases were being brought against her now, years after they were first filed.

Meanwhile, the First Criminal Court will issue a judgement tomorrow (June 28) in another case against Ms Jamsheer in which she is accused of verbally abusing the husband of a woman she supported in a custody battle. The case was filed by the husband of Bariya Rabea, who alleges that Ms Jamsheer called him an unfit husband and father in an abusive way. She denies the charges.

She will stand trial in yet another case on October 5, also at the First Criminal Court, for one of the same charges that she faced in the case that was just dismissed. She is accused of the same incident of calling a judge and swearing at him on the phone. Mr Al Mutawa says he believes that the case was taken to two different courts in an administrative error.

The Women's Petition Committee, a network of activists demanding the codification of Bahrain's family laws and the reform of its family courts. For the past four years, Ms Jamsheer has organised protests, vigils and a hunger strike in an effort to draw attention to the suffering of women in the existing family court system.   

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