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Bahrain Follows Trump Trip with Dissent Crackdown

Bahrain Follows Trump Trip with Dissent Crackdown
folder_openBahrain access_time6 years ago
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Authorities in Bahrain clamped down on dissent in the wake of US President Donald Trump's visit to the Gulf last month -- a move that experts say is no coincidence.

Bahrain Follows Trump Trip with Dissent Crackdown

"The human rights situation was already bad, but the timing of the latest crackdown is striking and it's unlikely to be coincidental," said Jane Kinninmont, senior research fellow at Chatham House.

Trump last month embarked on his first foreign tour since taking office, beginning with Saudi Arabia where he had a string of meetings with Arab and Muslim leaders including Bahrain's King Hamad.

Less than 48 hours after he left the Saudi kingdom, five people were martyred and 286 arrested on May 23 when police fired on a rally outside the home of Prominent Shia leader His Eminence Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim.

"That does suggest that the calculations are being made," said Kinninmont.
"I think the main thing that is definitely different is... the amount of force that was just used. It does seem like a change."

Authorities claimed the sit-in, which had been going on for months, had become a refuge for "wanted persons and fugitives."

On Wednesday, a state tribunal also dissolved the Waed movement, the country's main opposition group, on the grounds that it supported "terrorism."

The state last year ordered the dissolution of opposition group al-Wefaq, once the largest bloc in Bahrain's parliament. Al-Wefaq leader Sheikh Ali Salman has been behind bars since 2014.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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