Bahrain’s opposition chief jailed for spying
dubai — Bahrain sentenced the head of the country’s opposition movement to life in prison on Sunday for spying for Qatar.
Sheikh Ali Salman, who headed the now-banned Al Wefaq movement, and two of his aides had been acquitted by the high criminal court in June, a verdict the public prosecution appealed.
The public prosecutor said in a statement that the three had been unanimously sentenced by the appeals court for “acts of hostility” against Bahrain and “communicating with Qatari officials... to overthrow constitutional order”.
Bahrain, along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, severed all ties with Qatar in 2017, banning their citizens from travel to or communication with the
emirate over its alleged ties to both Iran and radical groups. Sunday’s verdict against the cleric can still be appealed. Salman’s Al Wefaq was dissolved by court order in 2016. The cleric is currently serving a four-year sentence in a separate case — “inciting hatred” in the kingdom. The leftist opposition National Democratic Action Society, or Al Waad, was banned the following year over allegations of links to terrorists. The verdict comes ahead of parliamentary elections that Bahrain’s His Majesty King Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa has called for November 24.
Dissolved opposition parties do not have the right to put forward their own candidates in the vote.
Bahrain last year ratified an amendment to the constitution granting military courts the authority to try civilians charged with terrorism.
In June, Bahrain amended its law on political rights, prohibiting “leaders and members of political associations dissolved for violating the kingdom’s constitution or its laws” from running in legislative elections. —