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Bahrain suspends all activities by Shia opposition group al-Wefaq

Tuesday, 14 June 2016 10:01 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 14 June 2016 11:26 AM ]

Bahraini men hold placards bearing the portrait of Sheikh Ali Salman, the head of al-Wefaq, during a protest against his detention, at al-Wefaq headquarters, on the outskirts of the capital, Manama, May 29, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Bahrain has suspended all activities by the country’s largest Shia political group and frozen its assets, the Bahraini Justice Ministry says.

The ministry announced in a statement on Tuesday that the kingdom suspended all activities by the al-Wefaq opposition group in the Persian Gulf country.

Al-Wefaq’s Secretary General Sheikh Ali Salman has been in prison since December 2014 on charges of attempting to overthrow the regime and collaborating with foreign powers, which he has denied. A court sentenced him to four years in prison in June 2015.

On Monday, the government detained Nabeel Rajab, a prominent activist and president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

He has been arrested several times since the start of an uprising in the Persian Gulf country in 2011.

Rajab has been critical of Manama’s heavy-handed crackdown on peaceful protests.

Since February 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations on an almost daily basis, calling for the Al Khalifa regime to relinquish power.

In March that year, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to the country to help in the crackdown on peaceful protests.

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