Webinar on Bahrain Situation Planned on Anniversary of Sheikh Ali Salman Detention
“Where is Bahrain Heading?” is the title of the virtual meeting, which will be held on Wednesday in Manama.
Bahrain’s main opposition group, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, will organize the webinar.
Sheikh Ali Salman is the secretary-general of Al-Wefaq.
A number of scholars and political figures from Bahrain, Palestine, Tunisia, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt, will address the webinar.
They include former Iraqi prime minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, Palestinian Awqaf Minister Isamil Rizwan, and Secretary General of International Union of Resistance Scholars Sheikh Maher Hammoud.
Bahrain’s highest court in January 2019 upheld life sentences against three opposition leaders, including Sheikh Ali Salman, on charges of “spying for Qatar”.
The 53-year-old Salman was convicted in November 2019 of “communicating with Qatari officials... to overthrow constitutional order,” a ruling rights groups denounced as a travesty of justice.
The London-based human rights group Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) said the verdict marked the end of a "long, flawed trial."
Back then, al-Wefaq stated that the Bahraini judiciary was a tool in the hands of the ruling Manama regime, and the ruling reflected the magnitude of turmoil in the kingdom.
Qatar, currently embroiled in a rift with Saudi Arabia and its Persian Gulf allies, has categorically denied accusations of conspiring with Salman against Bahrain.
Human rights groups have frequently said cases against activists in Bahrain fail to meet the fundamental requirements of fair trials.
