Bahrain files lawsuit to dissolve party

Bahraini lawmakers in Manama participate in a special session of Parliament to discuss how to handle the uprising in the kingdom in this July 2013 photo. (AP)

DUBAI: Bahrain’s government filed a lawsuit Monday to dissolve a secular political party.
The country’s Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Ministry accused Waad in a statement of “incitement of acts of terrorism and promoting (the) violent and forceful overthrow of (the) political regime.” The announcement, coming just a day after Bahrain’s Parliament approved a constitutional amendment allowing military tribunals to try civilians, recalled the clampdown that followed the nation’s 2011 Arab Spring protests.
“The society glorified convicted terrorists and saboteurs who used weapons, detonated bombs in killing and wounding several security (personnel) and also undermined citizens and residents’ physical safety as well as damaged private and public properties,” the statement carried on the state-run Bahrain News Agency said. “The society continuously violated the principles of the democratic political process, basic freedoms and people’s participation in the process.”
The government did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press to elaborate on the ministry’s allegations.
Bahrain already has dissolved the country’s largest opposition group, Al-Wefaq, and doubled a prison sentence for its Secretary-General, Sheikh Ali Salman.