ArchivesTag : political parties
Women fight to keep freedom
Women’s rights activists in Bahrain have pledged to fight any laws proposed by the new parliament that could reduce their freedom.
Amnesty International (AI) Bahrain’s head of campaigns, Fawzia Rabea, yesterday urged women to do everything in their power to prevent radical policies being implemented.
Her comments come after new MP Sayed Abdulla Al A’ali said he [...]
Votes fabricated claims candidate
Defeated parliamentary candidate Dr Muneera Fakhro has filed a case claiming that winner Dr Salah Ali received illegal votes through Bahrain’s 10 general polling stations, it was announced yesterday.
She claims that the difference was so dramatic that some votes may have been fabricated.
Dr Fakhro received 331 votes through the open stations versus 1,191 for Dr [...]
MPs hope blacklist won’t affect voting
MPs named on a blacklist by the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) said they hoped it would not influence voters’ decisions in tomorrow’s elections.
The list named 19 MPs, including independents and members of Al Asala Islamic Society and Al Menbar Islamic Society.
The BCHR claims they contributed to human rights violations in the country by [...]
Row over ‘false petition’ to UN
A prominent member of the political opposition has challenged a human rights activist to a public debate after the latter accused him of providing false information to the United Nations.
Representatives of The Haq Movement of Liberties and Democracy visited UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s office on August 14 to submit a petition asking the UN [...]
Al Wefaq campaigns against e-voting
Bahrain’s biggest political society is campaigning against electronic voting in the municipal and parliamentary elections being held later in the year.
E-voting is not as safe as the traditional ballot box method, says Al Wefaq National Islamic Society.
Dangers include hacking, fraud and or a total breakdown of the system on polling day, says Al Wefaq information [...]
MPs walk out over terror law
Ten MPs stormed out of parliament yesterday in protest after a controversial anti-terrorism law was approved.
They claimed parliament had passed a bill that the people simply did not want.
Political and human rights activists have previously criticised the law, saying it was vague and could be used to try ordinary criminals on terror-related charges.
MPs have made [...]
Deadlock over anti-terror law
Parliament reached a deadlock for the second time yesterday over articles related to the death penalty in the government-proposed anti-terrorism law.
MPs couldn’t reach a final decision to pass the new law following last week’s session on whether it should include the death sentence.
They only managed to revise 12 of the law’s 34 articles, including four [...]
Bahrain’s opposition Shias to fight the system from within
Bahrain’s Shia Muslim opposition boycotted the political process for four years, but have now decided to take part in the next elections in a bid to change the Sunni government from within.
The boycott by four Shia movements in 2002 effectively ended on May 1, when the largest of them, Al Wefaq (the Islamic National Accord [...]
شيخ دين مقاطع ومهندس عرائض من قلب قرية «قلالي»
«حــق» ليســت متشــددة
قلالي – فهيم عبدالله
يمثل وضعا غريبا بالنسبة إليه كرجل دين سني، إذ كان على رأس مجموعة معارضة جريئة إبان أيام أمن الدولة.
.. وكان ضمن مجموعة مهندسي العرائض التاريخية بدءاً من العريضة النخبوية في مطلع التسعينات والعريضة الشعبية بعدها بسنين، ومن ثم العريضة الأممية التي تجمع توقيعاتها حركة «حق» في هذه الأيام، يكاد [...]
Official of US institute leaves
National Democratic Institute official Fawzi Guleid (third from right, back row), during a farewell ceremony held in his honour on Thursday night in Manama. EPA
National Democratic Institute, Bahrain Programme Officer Fawzi Guleid yesterday left Bahrain amid uncertainties about the future of the Washington-based institute in Manama.
Guleid had been asked by immigration authorities to leave by [...]
Director is told to go
National Democratic Insti-tute (NDI) director Fawzi Julaid has been told by immigration authorities to leave the country by Friday, after his sponsor, another political institute, failed to renew his residence permit.
The Bahrain Institute for Political Development has had Mr Julaid’s passport since December as his sponsor in Bahrain.
He said he was surprised to discover that [...]
Activist to run in elections
Political activist and National Al Adala (Justice) Movement founder Abdulla Hashim has declared his intension to run for parliament in this year’s elections.
Mr Hashim said he and fellow movement member Isa Al Sayyar will be running for different constituencies in the Muharraq Governorate, but that neither will run under the name of the group.
The movement [...]
Al Wefaq poll hopes high…
Bahrain’s top opposition political group expects to win at least 12 seats in the new parliament in December 2006.
Al Wefaq National Islamic Society’s 30-member Shura body voted on Monday in favour of running for elections after boycotting parliament in 2002.
The society says that it would have a stronger influence on the country’s politics by taking [...]
Bahrain’s dawn of democracy proves false for Shia
A few blocks away from the new waterfront developments that Bahrain’s rulers hope will secure the kingdom’s future as a regional banking centre, there are signs of budding revolt.
Wearing balaclavas to mask their identity, young men with no stake in the capital Manama’s rising skyline, spend their evenings burning tyres, hurling stones and blocking traffic [...]
Society shifted position to take advantage of political platform
Al Wefaq Bahrain’s largest opposition society that spearheaded the boycott of the 2002 parliamentary elections attributed its decision to join mainstream politics to its consideration of the Council of Representatives as “a political platform that could be used optimally” and to “the local, regional and international developments and decisions”.
The society said more powers should be [...]
