Verdict on dissolving Bahrain opposition due next week

Dubai: A Bahraini court will hand down its verdict next week in the government’s bid to dissolve the main opposition group Al Wefaq, accused of harbouring terrorism, a judicial source said on Monday.

The date of July 17 was set as the court convened in the absence of the defence team which walked out last month in protest at the government’s push to accelerate the process.

The United States has called on Bahrain to reconsider the move to dissolve Al Wefaq.

Al Wefaq was the largest bloc in parliament before its lawmakers resigned in protest at the quelling of 2011 anti-government protests.

The justice ministry has accused the Shiite bloc of providing a haven for “terrorism, radicalisation and violence” and opening the way for “foreign interference” in the kingdom’s affairs.

That was an allusion to Iran, which Bahrain accuses of fomenting unrest among its Shiite community.

In May, an appeals court more than doubled a four-year prison sentence handed down against Al Wefaq leader Ali Salman on charges of inciting violence.

The High Criminal Court issued the initial verdict in June last year on the charges of publicly inciting hatred against a segment of the society, calling for non-compliance with the law and denigrating the interior ministry by describing its affiliates as mercenaries and claiming some of them were members of terrorist groups. The court, however, dropped the accusation of promoting political change using illegal force and threats.

Bahrain’s prime minister defended Al Wefaq’s closure last month. Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa said the measures taken by the government against societies accused of breaking the law aim to ensure that political activism remains free of all forms of abuses that harm the democratic openness of Bahrain. He added that they also seek to secure that the democracy process does not break the law or depend on foreign political or religious references and is not tainted with sectarianism.