Bahrain’s appeals court has sentenced three senior members of the country’s opposition movement to life in prison over charges of spying for neighbouring Qatar, according to a statement from the public prosecutor. The latest ruling can be appealed. Bahrain is an island country in the Persian Gulf….
Bahrain’s appeals court has sentenced three senior members of the country’s opposition movement to life in prison, over charges of spying for neighbouring Qatar, according to a statement from the public prosecutor.
The latest ruling can be appealed.
Background
Bahrain is an island country in the Persian Gulf. The sovereign state comprises a small archipelago cantered around the Bahrain island – between Qatar peninsula and the northeastern coast of Saudi Arabia.
In 2011, the country experienced protests inspired by the regional Arab spring. Demonstrators – mainly led by the majority Shia community – took to the streets demanding more democracy as part of pro-democracy uprisings across the Arab world. The ruling Al Khalifa family, who hold most of the political and military posts, managed to suppress the protests with the help of neighbouring countries, most importantly Saudi Arabia.
Bahrain is also home to the U.S. Navy 5th Fleet. The 2011 uprising was quelled with help from Saudi and Emirati forces. Bahrain cut ties with neighbouring Qatar in 2017.
The verdict against Sheikh Ali Salman, who headed the now-outlawed al-Wefaq movement, as well as Sheikh Hassan Sultan and Ali al-Aswad – came on Sunday, months after their acquittal by the high criminal court in June. The public prosecutor said the court had sentenced the cleric, Sheikh Ali Salman, Sheikh Hassan Sultan and Ali Alaswad, for transferring confidential information to and receiving financial support from Qatar.
The verdict was issued just weeks before parliamentary elections are set to take place without the Al-Wefaq political group that Salman once led. Al-Wefaq, which was the tiny Gulf nation’s largest Shi’ite opposition bloc, was ordered dissolved in 2016 as part of a crackdown on dissent in the kingdom, which has a Shi’ite majority but is ruled by a Sunni monarchy.
As leader of the main Shi’ite opposition party, Sheikh Ali Salman was among those calling for democratic reforms including a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.
Alistair Burt, the British Middle East minister, tweeted that he was “very concerned” to hear of the further sentencing of Salman. He said the Foreign Office would “continue to closely follow the case and raise with the government of Bahrain as part of our open dialogue”.
Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s the Middle East and North Africa director, said in a statement: “This verdict is a travesty of justice that demonstrates the Bahraini authorities’ relentless and unlawful efforts to silence any form of dissent. Sheikh Ali Salman is a prisoner of conscience who is being held solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.” Bahrain cut ties with Qatar in 2017.
Ali Salman, who led the now outlawed Al-Wefaq movement, was accused of plotting with Qatar to stoke anti-government unrest in 2011, along with fellow opposition leaders Hassan Sultan and Ali al-Aswad.
They have also received life sentences. But, the accusations, which date back seven years, only came to light last year – after Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt cut links with Qatar. Al-Wefaq had the biggest bloc in parliament before the 2011 protests but its members resigned when those were suppressed. Later the party was banned – along with other religious and secular opposition groups.
Dozens of clerics and activists have been jailed. Prior to this verdict, Sheikh Ali Salman was already imprisoned on charges of inciting hatred. Human rights groups accuse the international community of failing to speak out about abuses in Bahrain because of its strategically important location and value as a defence and security hub.
Counterpoint
In 2017, Bahrain state television broadcast the recorded calls between Mr. Salman and Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani, then Qatar’s prime minister, during the 2011 protests.
Mr. Alaswad, who has lived in London since 2011, has told Reuters that the public prosecutor used secret witnesses and a video from a Bahraini television channel that experts described as edited and incomplete.
Assessment
Our assessment is that the verdict is linked to the Arab boycott of Qatar in 2017 as part of a wider diplomatic dispute. We feel that Salman is a casualty of Bahrain’s war on dissent and it would be necessary for both the US and UK, two strategic allies of the Kingdom in the region, to protest this travesty of justice. We believe that Salman’s speeches repudiated the use of force and stressed his commitment to non-violence.
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