On 3rd 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.
3rd 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 17th 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 31st
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.