Dubai: Bahraini security forces conducted several arrests and searches in the village of Diraz on Wednesday.
“As part of efforts to preserve security and enforce the law, court orders to arrest wanted people in certain villages and to search their homes were implemented this morning,” the Interior Ministry posted on Twitter on Wednesday.
Videos uploaded by anti-government protesters showed dozens of police vehicles and armoured cars in the village where Shiite cleric Eisa Qassim lives. It was unclear whether Qassim was the subject of arrest.
He went on trial for money laundering in June and faces expulsion from the country after authorities revoked his citizenship in May for fomenting violence and alleged ties to foreign powers - an apparent reference to Iran.
Bahrain’s government dissolved the main opposition Al Wefaq group over the summer.
In 2011, Bahrain was hit by anti-government protests but were able to quell them with help from its Gulf Arab neighbours.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has repeatedly accused Iran of meddling in the internal affairs of Arab states. Earlier this week the GCC rejected threats by Iranian officials against the Gulf alliance and other countries in the region, saying they were violations of diplomatic norms and the United Nations principles of good neighbourliness and non-interference in the internal affairs of other states.
Last week, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s second-in-command, in reports carried by Iranian media threatened to launch further “wars of conquest” in countries of the region.
However, the GCC rejected the threats as against the principles stipulated in the UN Charter.
“The Iranian accusations and abuses reflect the character of the negative political positions pursued by Iran, and Tehran’s interfere in the internal affairs of the GCC and regional countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Yemen,” Abdul Lateef Al Zayani, the GCC Secretary General, said.
