Dubai: Bahraini opposition groups said Wednesday they have suspended their participation in national reconciliation talks aimed at ending the kingdom’s political impasse, following the arrest of a prominent ex-MP.

The five groups, including the main Shiite Al Wefaq formation, “have decided to suspend their participation in the national dialogue,” a joint statement said, a day after the arrest of Khalil Marzooq on charges of inciting terrorism.

“This decision will be continuously revised,” the statement said.

Bahrain’s public prosecutor decided on Tuesday to hold Marzooq in custody for 30 days for further investigation.

He was charged with “inciting and advocating terrorism, and using his leadership position in a legally organised political society to incite crimes,” according to a prosecution statement.

Prosecutors also accuse Marzooq of being “affiliated with (a) terrorist organisation,” naming the radical February 14 Revolution Youth Coalition.

Public Prosecution head Nayef Yusuf said on Tuesday that an investigation against Khalil Al Marzooq had been launched based on a report from the Northern Governorate Police Station.

“Investigations have revealed that the political assistant to Al Wefaq Islamic Society secretary general has links with the terrorist group The Coalition of February 14,” The public prosecutor said. “Some of the leaders and members of this group had been referred to the court. Al Marzooq supported the group and delivered speeches on several occasions that included incitement to commit and promote terrorist crimes, which denotes that he endorses their principles and backs their acts of violence that are banned under the law. He delivered his latest speech in which he incited to acts of violence on September 6 at a political rally in Saar. During the meeting, Al Marzouq raised a banner of the terrorist organisation after it was handed to him by an unknown masked man,” the prosecutor said.

An investigation into all the allegations was launched and the prosecution had access to his speeches, he added.

“He was questioned in the presence of his lawyer and confronted with recordings and other evidence and ordered to remain in custody as the case is under investigation after he was charged with inciting and promoting acts of terror and abusing his position in a political society to call for committing crimes punishable by law,” Nayef Yusuf said.

The prosecutor said that freedom of opinion and expression must be exercised without breaking the law.

In a separate statement, the Director-General of the Northern Governorate Police dismissed as “baseless and lacking credibility” social media reports on the alleged disappearance of Al Marzooq after his visit to the police directorate headquarters.

The official said that Al Marzooq arrived at the police station to face charges of inciting acts of terror and that he was subsequently referred to the Public Prosecutor for further legal action.

Led by Al Wefaq, the opposition was taking part in a national dialogue that began on February 10 aimed at ending the country’s political stalemate, while keeping up street protests to call for reform.

Al Marzooq served as deputy speaker in the 40-member parliament before 18 MPs from the influential Shiite opposition bloc Al Wefaq walked out in February 2011 protesting violence against demonstrators.

Al Wefaq condemned the summons in a statement issued on Tuesday, calling it “a clear attack on political activism in Bahrain”, adding that it “reflects an intensive effort by the regime to further complicate the situation” in the country.

The summons came a day after the justice ministry in the Gulf kingdom filed a lawsuit to close a Shiite clerics’ council, accusing it of involvement in politics, in a new sign of a clampdown on opposition.

Despite a crackdown that ended a month-long protest led by the opposition in mid-March 2011, opposition activists continue to demonstrate and clash with police frequently in their villages.

Elsewhere on Tuesday police announced that security forces dismantled a “homemade bomb” in Isa Town, a Manama suburb.

Security forces were alerted that “two suspicious objects” were spotted in the suburb but “after examining them they found the first to be a fake bomb”, a government statement said.

“The other was a gas cylinder with a detonator,” the statement said, adding that an investigation was under way “to bring the suspects to justice”.

The interior ministry also announced on its Twitter page the death of a policeman who had been wounded in a bomb attack on August 17 in the village of Dair north of the capital.

According to the International Federation for Human Rights, around 80 people have been killed in Bahrain since violence first broke out in 2011.

- with inputs from Habib Toumi, Bahrain Bureau Chief