Legal Update: Amendments To The Bahraini Penal Code

On 23 January 2025, the Official Gazette published Decree-Law No. 3/2025 amending some provisions to Law No. 15/1976 issuing the Penal Code (the Law) and was immediately enforced the following day. The amendments introduce a new penalty targeting the theft of electronic devices and any similar tools that integrates communication and compute technology. In this article, we will examine the new provisions and clarify its potential impact.

Theft and Similar Offences

A new provision is added under Article 380 of the Law which states that a prison sentence for a term of no less than three (3) months shall be imposed if a theft is committed to "(12) a mobile phone, laptop, or tablet, or any electronic, magnetic, optical or electrochemical tool or means, or any tool combining communications and computing techniques, and any device that may receive or send data and conduct data processing, storage and retrieval very quickly".