Bahrain shuts opposition office

DUBAI: 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 Affairs and Endowment, a judicial source said.
The ministry said in September that the office 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.”
The council also “adopted the call for the so-called revolution,” it charged, referring to Shiite-led protests against the government that erupted in February 2011 before being dispersed a month later.
At least 89 people have been killed in Bahrain since the protests began, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.