the ruling Al Khalifah regime dissolves largest leftist political party

YemenExtra

Bahrain has dissolved the country’s largest leftist political party, the National Democratic Action Society.

Bahrain’s administrative court ruled on Wednesday to dissolve Wa’ad and hand over all its properties to the treasury, al-Wasat newspaper reported.
It also claimed that the political group “glorified convicted terrorists and saboteurs who used weapons and detonated bombs in killing and wounding several security [personnel], threatened citizens and residents’ safety and damaged private and public properties.”
Human rights groups called the ruling, which is subject to appeal, “a de facto ban on all opposition”.

“Shutting down the last opposition party is a declaration of a de facto ban on all opposition,” said Sayed Alwadaei, the director of advocacy for the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy.

“The government of Bahrain is acting with the aim of totally silencing all peaceful voices, leaving open the alternative of underground opposition and violence.

“This was allowed to happen because Bahrain feels zero geopolitical and international pressure from ‘champions of democracy’ in the West,” he added.
On 6 March, Bahrain’s justice ministry took steps to dissolve a major opposition group it accuses of supporting terrorism, state news agency BNA reported, filing a lawsuit the group said was an attempt by the government to stamp out dissent.