FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT The atmosphere leading up to Bahrain’s parliamentary election in the end of October is getting increasingly tense as the government has arrested several leading opposition figures and cracked down on street protestors. The agitation serves to highlight the disaffection of a significant portion of the population, but there is still [...]
The three women in head scarves and black abayas surged into the main atrium of the Seef Mall at 11 p.m. the other night, unfurling a banner outside the Next clothing boutique that read, “It is forbidden to arbitrarily arrest and detain people.”
A picture was taken, and in less than a minute they had dispersed. As they tried to leave, more than a dozen plainclothes and uniformed police officers surrounded one of them, Fakhria al-Singace, pinning her spread-eagled on a cafe table.
Bahrain’s public prosecutor has banned media from reporting on a prominent Shiite activist and scores of other opposition members detained in an ongoing crackdown ahead of October parliament elections.
Bahraini leaders have pledged a zero-tolerance policy towards “instigators”, saying that there would be “a strict application of the law against those who seek to stall the country’s progress.” Praising the role of the army and the police, King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa said that laws would be applied without hesitation, particularly that there [...]
Former terror suspect, Dr Abdul Jalil Al Singace, has been arrested for inciting the use of violence and terrorist acts to target public and private property, a security source said last night. The Haq Movement for Liberties and Democracy media and international relations director manipulated the freedom of expression to put lives at risk, and [...]
HIS Majesty King Hamad issued a decree adding new residential complexes to the tables of electoral constituencies, changing the number of one block and determining the number of polling and counting sub-committees for parliamentary elections. Each constituency will have one sub-committee in addition to 10 general panels across the kingdom. His Royal Highness Prime Minister [...]
Bahrain’s King Hamad on Sunday called parliamentary and municipal elections for October 23, the state news agency BNA reported. The king, who chaired a cabinet meeting attended by Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa and Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, urged voters to turn out in large numbers for the polls. “Decision-making [...]
Parliamentary elections in Bahrain later this year will offer little to Shi’ite opposition groups pressing for more democratic reforms, and are unlikely to heal their rift with the country’s Sunni Muslim rulers.
As Bahrain heads toward elections for the lower house of Parliament in September or October, a climate of public unhappiness with the incumbents prevails. The Parliament elected four years ago was dominated by Islamists, including the Shiite opposition Al-Wefaq Islamic Society on the one side and the two Sunni groups – Al-Minbar Islamic Society (an [...]
The sentencing of seven youths to 25 years in prison for their roles in a riot-related arson that left a Pakistani immigrant worker dead could be more than Bahrain’s fragile security situation can handle, politicians and rights activists warn.
