ArchivesTag : mps
Wrench attackers deny charges
Two sons of a Bahraini MP, who allegedly attacked three members of the ruling family with a wrench, yesterday denied the charges. The brothers, in their 20s, appeared before the Lower Criminal Court for the first time where they pleaded not guilty to assault.
A third brother, who was earlier released from police custody, failed to [...]
Ministers summoned over ‘immoral tourism’
Manama Four ministers have been summoned to appear before a parliamentary committee investigating alleged immoral activities in Bahrain’s tourism sector.
The ministers of interior, culture and information, municipality affairs and industry and commerce will on Monday present their views to the five-member committee formed last week by the lower house.
The committee looked into charges of malpractices [...]
Hotels vice probe ordered by MPs
AN URGENT inquiry into the scale of prostitution in Bahrain was launched by parliament yesterday. MPs said vice was rife in the country’s hotels, furnished apartments and nightspots – with one blaming it for the divorce rate soaring to 40 per cent.
They voted to set up their own inquiry after Culture and Information Minister Shaikha [...]
Health Ministry rejects MPs’ hospital jibes
MPs’ claims that a Bahrain maternity hospital was not fit enough to deliver animals, let alone babies, were denied by the Health Ministry yesterday.It claimed in a statement that although the Sitra Maternity Hospital was old, it was still up to the mark.
“The ministry’s planning department has decided there is no use spending a large [...]
Bahrain’s Opposition Bloc Comes Under Attack By Political Societies
Bahrain’s largest opposition bloc has come under scathing attack by a political society, which has slammed its 17 Shia MPs for working ‘ for their own benefit rather than national interest.’
Lawmakers from Al Wefaq bloc ( Conservative Shia) recently backed a government draft law on retirement pension for MPs, which has now become a bone [...]
Minister cleared by MPs
Municipalities and Agriculture Affairs Minister Mansoor bin Rajab – who had been accused of financial, administrative and constitutional irregularities – was cleared by a parliamentary committee yesterday.
The minister appeared before parliament’s financial and economic affairs committee two weeks ago to face accusations of illegal business activities, as well as irregularities in the allocation of ministry [...]
Talks suspended over ’sorcery’ row
Parliament suspended discussions on criminalising “sorcery and witchcraft” yesterday, after a row erupted between an MP and government officials.
MP Ibrahim Busandal accused Justice and Islamic Affairs Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa of disregarding Islamic laws, which he said call for the death penalty against “sorcerers and witches”.
Shaikh Khalid told MPs that there was [...]
Deputies seek law to curb sorcery
“Bring me a person caught practising sorcery who is capable of bringing the evil spirit,” the Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs, Khalid bin Ali Abdulla Al Khalifa, told the Chamber of Deputies yesterday.
“The minister’s words are unconstitutional,” Al Asala Deputy Ibrahim Mohammed Bousandal said.
It all began when Al Wefaq MP Mohammed Youself Maezal told [...]
MPs to vote on minister’s fate
MPs will vote next week on whether to recommend action against Cabinet Affairs Minister Shaikh Ahmed bin Ateyatala Al Khalifa over allegations that he kept secret the fact that Bahrain’s population had soared to over a million.
Shaikh Ahmed was questioned for around five hours yesterday by the services committee, plus nine of the 10 Al [...]
‘Root out gays in our schools’
School students could soon be spied on under a campaign to stamp out homosexuality, under demands made by MPs yesterday. Parliament also demanded that the Interior Ministry stop granting any residence permits to foreign homosexuals.
Any already here should be deported as soon as they are detected, MPs said at parliament’s weekly session.
MPs also called for [...]
Police ‘bounty’ scheme rapped
An MP yesterday lashed out at colleagues who backed a scheme to pay a “bounty” to police who catch drug dealers, despite objections from the Interior Ministry.
The scheme to pay drug squad police rewards of 20 per cent of the value of the haul recovered has been backed by parliament’s foreign affairs, defence and national [...]
Minister faces grilling by MPs
Municipalities and Agriculture Affairs Minister Mansoor bin Rajab is to be questioned by a parliamentary committee later this month on alleged financial, administrative and constitutional violations, it was announced yesterday.
The financial and economic affairs committee, which met yesterday, is sending an official request to the minister, demanding he attends a meeting on April 28.
A second [...]
Doctors reject same-sex call
A demand by MPs that medical staff be allowed to treat only patients of the same sex has been dismissed as “preposterous” by a top official.
Doctors would go to court to block such a move if necessary, said another leading doctor.
It would be a step that would damage medical services, said Salmaniya Medical Centre chief [...]
Panel to fight blasphemy
Ten MPs were named yesterday as members of an emergency parliamentary committee set up to combat the tarnishing of the Prophet Mohammed’s image.
The move is in reaction to the reprinting by the Danish media earlier this year of insulting cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.
There was outcry throughout the Islamic world when the cartoons first appeared [...]
MPs blast aid list mix-up
An MP yesterday claimed to have received threatening calls from “millionaires” whose names appeared on lists of people entitled to BD50 government aid. Ibrahim Al Hadi told parliament they warned him against pushing to have their names removed.
He made the allegation as MPs launched a stinging attack on the government’s handling of a BD40 million [...]
