Bahrain's new parliament approves government programme

On 3^rd Feb, Bahrain's new parliament, consisting almost entirely of supporters of the Sunni monarchy in the Shiite-majority kingdom, approved the government's political programme.

Prior to the recent elections, the influential Shiite opposition bloc Al-Wefaq had rejected extra powers granted to parliament in a 2012 constitutional amendment.

Under that amendment, the government must offer a new programme within 21 days if an initial programme is rejected by parliament. If rejected a second time, the government will be automatically replaced.

3^rd February was the first time parliament was allowed to vote on the programme. And given that the main opposition boycotted November parliamentary elections and is not represented, the outcome was inevitable. 37 out of 40 MPs voted in favour of the programme and three abstained.

Following this move, Bahrain has opened a criminal investigation of the country's main opposition group, the Interior Ministry said on 17^th Feb, accusing the al-Wefaq group of trying to undermine national security.

The Ministry of Interior said on its website that its General Directorate of Anti-corruption and Economic and Electronic Security had referred al-Wefaq to the public prosecutor after it documented violations that represent "criminal offences" under Bahrain’s laws.

It said these violations, published on al-Wefaq's Twitter account and on its website, included "incitement to hatred against the ruling system and circulating false news to undermine civil peace and national security."

During the Tuesday 10 February parliamentary session, a handful of MPs tried to force the Head of Parliament, Ahmed al-Mulla to discuss accusations in the press accusing the Parliament’s General Secretariat of corruption. Al-Mulla refused to allow the issue to be discussed, saying that the matter would be addressed in due course and that it was unfair for Parliament to be diverted away from issues which benefitted the public.

These MPs continued to shout their objections, with the aim of disrupting the session and eventually staged a walkout. These MPs included Mohammed al-Ahmed, Ahmed Qarratah, Abdulhalim Murad, Dhiyab al-Noaimi and Nabil al-Balooshi – a mix of Islamists and those with a reputation for taking oppositionist stances.

In response, Head of Parliament Al-Mulla said that Parliament could not be subject to a particular political agenda, while stressing the importance of investigating the allegations and noting the right of the media to freely criticize the authorities. The Parliament’s General Secretariat office has meanwhile denied the media allegations.

MPs propose removing obstacles to questioning ministers: Five MPs have submitted a proposal for making it simpler for Parliament to summon ministers over issues of concern. MP Ali al-Atish pointed out that monitoring Government performance was one of Parliament’s most significant roles. The 2012 Constitutional Amendments give a minimum of five MPs the right to summon a minister for questioning. However, Al-Atish noted that the parliamentary code of practice complicated this process and went against the spirit of these Amendments.

The chairman of the European-Bahraini Organization for Human Rights (EBOHR), Hussein Jawad was snatched from his home by masked police officers, he was taken to the Criminal Investigations Directorate — an affiliate of the Ministry of Interior notorious for the torture of detainees who are in the process of being charged with a crime.

Jameel Kadhim, a former parliament member and president of al-Wefaq's consultative council, was sentenced to six months in jail and fined 500 dinars by a court in Manama on charges of making false allegations that undermined national elections.

72 citizenships were suspended on 31^st January. 20 of these were suspected members of ISIS but the remainder were human rights activists, journalists and bloggers. Initially all were lumped together under a charge of “failing to be loyal” but other charges were added later.