Dubai: Bahraini Police on Wednesday questioned the head of the largest Shiite opposition who was summoned after a meeting with a US official later declared unwelcome in the country.
Cleric Ali Salman, the head of Al Wefaq association, was summoned on Tuesday along with his political assistant, ex-MP Khalil Marzouq, by Bahrain’s Public Security, which did not specify the reasons.
Salman was questioned at police headquarters, Al Wefaq said on its official Facebook page, posting a picture of the cleric and his lawyers leaving after the interrogation.
Marzouq, who was last month acquitted on charges of inciting terrorism, was scheduled to be questioned later Wednesday.
The interrogations come a day after Bahrain declared visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, Tom Malinowski, “unwelcome” after he met Salman and other opposition leaders, and demanded his immediate departure.
Bahrain’s foreign ministry said Malinowski had met “with a particular party to the detriment of other interlocutors”, describing his action as an “interference in its internal affairs”.
Malinowski was the Washington director for Human Rights Watch until April when he became assistant secretary of state.
Anti-government protests erupted in Bahrain in February 2011, but were quelled a month later after Saudi-led troops intervened.
