Bahraini Regime Dissolves Quranic Society
Jameel Humaidan, Bahrain’s Minister of Labour and Social Development, claimed that the decision to dissolve the society was based on Article 50 of the 1989 law of social and cultural societies and clubs.
Under the minister’s decision, the society will be liquidated within four months, according to GNews.
The society identifies itself as working on printing and distributing copies of the Quran freely in countries where they are not easily available.
The society, established in 2006, said on its website that it had used funds and donations from supporters and sponsors to accomplish several achievements related to the printing and distribution of the Quran in African and Asian countries.
Bahraini authorities have launched a wide-ranging campaign against societies it has accused of breaking the law.
On Tuesday, a court suspended Al Wefaq, Bahrain’s main opposition group, closed down its offices, suspended its activities and froze its assets.
Manama also dissolved two other opposition groups, namely al-Tawiya and al-Risala Islamic associations.
Officials in al-Wefaq denounced the suspension as illegal and called on the international community to take action in the face of the Bahraini regime’s suppression of dissident.
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.
In another development on Thursday, a Bahraini criminal court sentenced eight Shia nationals to 15 years in prison each and stripped the defendants of their citizenship.
According to a judicial source, the eight were accused of forming a "terror” group in 2014, possessing arms and attempting to kill policemen in the Bahraini village of Nuwaidrat.
Two other defendants were also handed down jail terms of three years each for participating in an unauthorized demonstration in the same village in June 2014.
Since mid-February 2011, Bahrain, a close ally of the US in the Persian Gulf region, has been witnessing almost daily protests demanding that the ruling family relinquish power.
The Al Khalifah regime is engaged in a harsh crackdown on dissent and widespread discrimination against the country's Shia majority. Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others injured or arrested in the island country.
