The court has ordered the party’s offices closed and its assets frozen, setting October 6 as the date for a hearing on the party’s “liquidation”, meaning that the kingdom’s largest opposition group could be entirely dissolved, Shamlawi later said.
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Bahrain rejected criticism of its crackdown and on Twitter Foreign Minister Khalid al-Khalifa wrote: “We will not allow the undermining of our security and stability and will not waste our time listening to the words of a high commissioner who is powerless”.
The statement added that the regime’s terrorist escalation reflects its illogical approach and sectarian as well as arrogant policy in face of the peaceful and opprerssed people who moved to demand that the authorities grant them their legitimate rights.
A Bahraini court ordered the suspension of the country’s main opposition group al-Wefaq on Tuesday, its lawyer said, in what appeared to be an escalating campaign against dissent in the Western-allied Gulf Arab kingdom.
Bahrain, a close ally of the USA in the Persian Gulf region, has been witnessing nearly daily protests against the ruling Al Khalifa dynasty since early 2011, with Manama using heavy-handed measures in an attempt to crush the demonstrations.
Meanwhile, the United Nations on Thursday voiced concerns about Bahrain’s crackdown on the opposition.
Human rights defender Nabil Rajab, founder of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, has been re-arrested and a jail sentence for Al Wefaq’s leader Sheikh Ali Salman on charges of inciting violence has been more than doubled to nine years.
“Bahrain has targeted leading human rights figures and opposition leaders in recent weeks; today’s move is a major statement of intent by the regime that any prospect of reform is over”.
Rajab is being held for one week pending investigation on charges of “spreading false information”, Mohammed al-Jishi said.
Two other defendants were jailed three years each for participating in the demonstration.
Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
Zainab al-Khawaja, another prominent activist, fled to Denmark earlier this month after being released from prison, fearing she would be detained again.
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Human Rights First on Tuesday urged the United States government “to hold its ally Bahrain accountable for its human rights abuses”.
