29th January 2014

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

Bahraini court shuts down Shi'ite clerical group
A Bahraini court ordered the dissolution of a group of Shi'ite Muslim clerics on Wednesday, declaring it illegal in a ruling that could harm reconciliation efforts aimed at ending political unrest in the U.S.-allied island kingdom. The court's decision comes a few weeks after stalled reconciliation talks between the Sunni ruling family and the Shi'ite opposition were revived, raising some hope of progress to end the political impasse. Bahrain, home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, has been hit by low-level civil unrest since 2011 when mainly Shi'ite protesters took to the streets calling for democratic reforms. The court said the Islamic Scholars' Council, which is close to the main Shi'ite opposition group al-Wefaq, was not ofcially registered in the Gulf Arab state. Read More Affairs and Endowment, a judicial source said.

Bahrain shuts opposition office

A Bahraini court shuttered on Wednesday an opposition clerics council, after authorities accused it of illegal operations. The court ordered the closure of the Olamaa Islamic Council and the liquidation of its assets following a lawsuit by the Ministry of Justice, Islamic

The ministry said in September that the ofce had been functioning outside the law. The council led by prominent cleric Issa Qassem violates the constitution and the laws of the kingdom, the ministry said at the time, accusing its members of using it to practice politics under a confessional cover. Read More activities that threatened the security of the Kingdom.

Bahraini court orders Shiite council closed for political reasons

Bahrain shut down a Shiite Muslim clerics' council Wednesday accusing it "of politicization and illegal operations," according to Agence France Presse.

The original case against Olamaa was brought forth by the Ministry of Justice's Islamic Affairs and Endowment that was led last September accusing the council of "functioning outside the law."

Bahrain bans clerics council

An administrative court in Bahrain banned the Islamic Ulama (Scholars) Council. The verdict was issued on Wednesday in the lawsuit led by the justice ministry in which it claimed that the council of scholars had been engaged in political

The ministry in September charged that the council was operating outside the constitution and the law, that it had never been licensed and that it was involved in politics. The council is led by prominent Shiite cleric Shaikh Issa Qassim. Read More in the country as it approaches the third anniversary of the start of the current troubles and the formal process of the national dialogue collapsed a few weeks ago. The talks failed after the government arrested and charged Ali Salman and Khaji Marzouq, two senior leaders of Al Wefaq the main opposition group at the table of several politically motivated offences. Read More

A Manama court ordered that the Olamaa Islamic Council close its doors and liquidize all of its assets.

According to the ministry, the council, which is led by the prominent Shiite cleric Issa Qasem, "violates the constitution and the laws of the kingdom...and [is used] to practice politics under a confessional cover." Read More

Bahrain needs to find a constitutional solution

Bahrain needs to maintain its tenuous national dialogue. The only good route for the whole country is for all Bahrainis to move forward together and for talks between the government and the constitutional opposition parties to continue, despite the serious difculties that they face. Tension is rising