Opposition group supporters clashed with
police Wednesday on the third day of demonstrations against the arrest of three
Bahraini Shiite opposition figures, as the protests spread to include six other
groups who called for their release, dpa
reported.
Unrest spread through the outskirts of the capital and many Shiite villages,
leading to the arrest of another five people, bringing to 12 the total arrested
since Monday, officials said.
The prosecution ordered another two weeks of detention for two of the men
charged earlier this week under the anti-terrorism law with conspiring to
overthrow the government.
The order applied to the secretary general of the Haq Movement for Liberty and Democracy, Hasan Mushaima, and Sheikh Mohammad Habib al- Miqdad, a clergyman.
However, the third detainee, Haq's human rights committee head and Haq
spokesman AbdulJalil al-Singace, was released on bail, but barred from
travelling.
By Wednesday, six other Islamic and liberal opposition groups had gotten
involved, meeting through the day to discuss the ramifications of the arrests
before calling for their release.
"The government needs to adopt dialogue, respect differing opinion, and
investigate the causes for the chronic problems troubling the country instead
of continuing with the cycle of violence and excessive use of force to resolve
differences," secretary general of National Democratic Action Society
(Waad), Ebrahim Sharif, said.
Sharif also called on the authorities to avoid the use of excessive force to
quell the protests.
The three men were arrested on Monday after they refused to adhere to a request
by the public prosecutor to appear in front of investigators on Sunday. The
three questioned the independence of the prosecution and legality of the
inquiry.
On Thursday, lawyers for the detainees were planning to file a request to the
justice minister demanding that the head public prosecutor be replaced with
another, Al-Singace told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa after his release.
He said statements made by Mushaima during his 8-hour integration were
misrepresented in the written format and had been dictated by the prosecutor.
"The allegations and trial are just a play and we believe that the verdict
to convict us has already been decided even before we go to trail,"
Al-Singace said.
In Parliament, mediation efforts were under way by the largest Shiite
opposition bloc, the Al Wefaq Society, which Mushaima co- founded before joinng
Haq. The bloc met with Bahraini Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al
Khalifa.
According to the local newspaper Al Wasat, the meeting mainly focused on the
arrest and the need for calm and thoughtful addressing of the issues, without
resorting to the use of security approach.
After his release, Al-Singace told dpa that the arrest and the possible
up-coming trial were an attempt to silence any voice of dissent against
government policies and reflected the authorities' decreasing willingness to
deal with the opposition.
Lawyers have confirmed that the investigation centered on alleged links to a
terrorist network, masterminded by two Bahraini opposition figures living in London with some cell members receiving training in Syria last year.
The alleged terrorist group, according to the government, was planning to carry
out bombings with homemade explosives to disrupt the December national day
celebrations.
The charging of the three comes after similar charges were brought against
Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a human rights activist, for critical speeches he had
made. Al-Khawaja is currently protection coordinator for the Middle East region
at Front Line, a European-based advocacy organization that protects human
rights activists, and earlier was president of the Bahrain Centre for Human
Rights.
He was charged on January 9 with similar allegations to the newest detainees,
released on bail and is expected to stand trial.
Al-Khawaja, although not directly linked by officials to the alleged terrorist
group, is a close supporter of Haq stance on several political and social
issues.
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