BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

18th, 19th, 20th July 2014

Bahrain asks court to
suspend main
opposition bloc's
activities
Bahrain's Justice Ministry
has asked a court to
suspend the activities of the
main Shi'ite Muslim
opposition group, a move
that could set back any
efforts to restart
reconciliation talks in the
Gulf Arab kingdom.
The leader of the Al-Wefaq
National Islamic Society,
Sheikh Ali Salman, said his
group planned to challenge
the move by legal means.
Bahrain, home to the U.S.
Fifth Fleet, quelled a
popular uprising in 2011
when majority Shi'ite
Muslims led mass protests
demanding a greater role in
running the Sunni-ruled
island but low level civil
unrest has persisted.
The move comes ahead of
general elections expected
later this year, which the
opposition had threatened
to boycott.
Read More
Bahrain sues top
opposition group
over alleged
violations
Bahrain's Justice, Islamic
Affairs and Endowments
Ministry on Sunday said it
has led a lawsuit against
the largest opposition group
Al Wefaq Society to
suspend its activities for
three months.
"The society has to rectify
its situation including the
annulment of four general
assemblies it organized
without following proper
procedures," said the
ministry in a statement.
The ministry also
questioned the rules related
to appointment of the
society's secretary-general
and deputy secretary-
general by a cleric.
It did not clearly name the
former chairman and Al
Wefaq National Islamic
Society's spiritual leader
Shaikh Isa Qassim.
Read More
Bahrain's justice
ministry files lawsuit
to suspend
opposition group
Bahrain's justice ministry
led a lawsuit on Sunday to
suspend the activities of the
country's main Shia
opposition group Al-Wefaq
for three months.
The move by the
government comes after top
Al-Wefaq gures met with a
US state department ofcial
without a Bahraini
government representative
present earlier this month.
This angered the Gulf
country's leadership, who
ordered US assistant
secretary of state for
democracy, human rights
and labour Tom Malinowski
to immediately leave
Bahrain.
The lawsuit, though, makes
no mention of the meeting.
Instead, Bahrain's ofcial
news agency reported that
the ministry is taking Al-
Wefaq to court for violating
regulations of transparency
in their general meetings.
Read More
Bahrain files lawsuit
to suspend all
opposition activities
under law
The government of Bahrain
has led a lawsuit that will
make the country's main
opposition activities illegal
under law for at least three
months, according to
Agence France Presse
Sunday.
Manama's leadership's
lawsuit would make the
main opposition group, Al
Wefaq, "illegal" under law
for at least three months.
While Manama has already
banned all political parties,
Al Wefaq's status as an
"association" has allowed it
to conduct opposition-linked
activities over the past
years. However, this status
is now in jeopardy.
Bahrain's state news
agency reported Sunday
that the Ministry of Justice
has called on Al Wefaq to
"[rectify its] illegal status
following the annulment of
four general assemblies for
lack of a quorum and the
non-commitment to the
public and transparency
requirements for holding
them [as per Bahraini
regulations]."
Read More
Bahrain and the U.S.
Bahrains Bad
Decision (editorial, July
11), about the expulsion of
the American State
Department ofcial Tom
Malinowski from Bahrain, is
right to suggest that the
Obama administration must
go further to show that such
behavior is unacceptable.
Before I was denied access
to the country, I visited
Bahrain regularly after the
2011 uprising to document
human rights violations.
Bahrain is home to the
United States Navys Fifth
Fleet, but it has failed to
meet basic standards of
human rights and the rule of
law necessary to promote
stability and protect
American interests.
The Bahrain monarchy has
abused the trust of its
American ally. Its time for
the United States
government to admit that
the Bahrain government is
not reforming, and judge
the ruling family by its
behavior rather than its
promises.
Read More
Bahrain's Jihadist
Dilemma
In recent years Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates have waged
crackdowns on local Muslim
Brotherhood (MB)
movements and their
alleged sympathizers under
the banner of combating
"global terrorism." These
governments claim that the
MB's rhetoric, espousing
peaceful democratic reform,
is disingenuous, and that it
is actually committed to
violently overthrowing the
Gulf's monarchies.
At the heart of the issue is
these Gulf governments'
belief that the MB's
alternative interpretation of
Islam's role in politics -- in
which the ballot box serves
as the means to acquire
political power -- threatens
the legitimacy of these
distinctly undemocratic
monarchies. The real threat
is what the MB represents
in terms of political reform
at a time when citizenries
from Morocco to Kuwait
have demonstrated against
their governments'
authoritarianism, corruption,
and economic policies.
Read More
Al Wefaq facing
three-month ban
BAHRAIN'S main
opposition group could be
suspended for three months
following a lawsuit led
yesterday by the Justice,
Islamic Affairs and
Endowments Ministry.
The ministry has accused Al
Wefaq National Islamic
Society of holding two
general assemblies without
following the quorum rules -
and calling for two similar
meetings without following
transparency requirements.
Ofcials said that the
lawsuit was led after Al
Wefaq violated the law and
held illegal general
assemblies, adding that all
the decisions taken in these
meetings were invalid.
"The ministry addressed the
society directly more than
once on the violations and
requested their
rectication," it said in a
statement.
"However, the society
continued its violations with
regard to holding its general
assemblies."
Read More