Bahrain Mirror: The Bahraini Interior Ministry said that following any inciting account on social media outlets that promotes sedition would held the follower legally accountable.

The ministry said via a tweet (in Arabic and English languages) on its Twitter account "Those who follow inciting accounts that promote sedition and circulate their posts will be held legally accountable".

It also sent the same message to the citizens and residents' mobiles.

Thus, Bahrain is the first country in the world to criminalize following accounts that usually express views opposing to the official and governmental policies.

None of the countries in the world has ever threatened to prosecute its citizens and residents only for following accounts it deems inflammatory or seditious.

Bahrain used to take actions against anyone who retweets tweets it deems offensive or inflammatory, but this time it also included followers of these accounts, in an attempt to close any account that annoys the authorities.

Arabic Version