A Bahraini appeals court on Thursday upheld an order dissolving the country’s main opposition group despite international criticism of the Gulf kingdom’s intensified crackdown on dissent.
A lower court had ordered the dissolution of the Al-Wefaq association in July over accusations including “harbouring terrorism” and ordered its funds to be seized by the government.
The accusations also included inciting violence and encouraging demonstrations which threatened to spark sectarian strife in the country.
Al-Wefaq was the largest group in parliament before its lawmakers resigned en masse in protest at the crushing of Arab Spring-inspired demonstrations in 2011 calling for an elected government.
The court order drew criticism from UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, and the kingdom’s allies in Washington and London.
Al Wefaq Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Hussein Addehi said that the Bahraini decision to dissolute the largest political organization in the country is “a dangerous step to declare a state of absolute unilateralism, the military rule and the absence of a modern state.”
“Bahrain has entered into a narrower and darker tunnel,” Sheikh Addehi said in a statement.
Source: Al-Manar Website
