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Dissolution of Bahraini ‘Waad’ Association, Liquidation of Its Funds | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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FILE- In this Friday, Sept. 20, 2013 file photo, Leaders of opposition groups, including Sheik Ali Salman, head of the largest Shiite Muslim opposition society Al Wefaq, front row fourth left, participates with thousands of Bahrainis carrying national flags and posters of jailed political and religious opposition figures in a rally in Muqsha, Bahrain. A court in Bahrain has the ordered the country’s last functioning opposition group dissolved and its property confiscated. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File) ORG XMIT: BAH101


Dissolution of Bahraini ‘Waad’ Association, Liquidation of Its Funds

by | Jun 1, 2017 | Middle East |

Dissolution of Bahraini ‘Waad’ Association, Liquidation of Its Funds

Manama- Bahrain’s High Civil Court ordered the dissolution of the National Democratic Action Society (Waad) and the liquidation of its assets, the Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs said.

The court said that Waad used on its official online account the term “Martyrs of the Nations” to refer to criminals sentenced to death after they targeted police officers with explosive devices, resulting in three officers losing their lives.

The term is a violation of Article Six of the Political Society Law that stipulates that societies must protect the independence and security of the Kingdom and its national unity and reject all forms of violence.

Waad also expressed its solidarity with al-Wefaq National Islamic Society which was dissolved following a court ruling after it was found guilty of questioning the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bahrain and adopting deviant political activities, inciting violence and illegal rallies and sit-ins likely to cause sectarian sedition in the country.

This alignment is in breach of the law that bans association or cooperation with any political society that does not respect the principles and articles of the constitution or the premises of the political regime in the Kingdom.

Waad also announced in a solidarity statement with other societies that it rejected the 2002 Constitution as illegitimate.

Waad is considered the second major association that was dissolved in Bahrain as the government used similarly broad wording to dissolve the country’s largest Shiite opposition group, al-Wefaq on 17 July 2016.

The ministry said that the arguments presented by Waad in its defense could not constitute a valid explanation for its attitude and breach of the law, particularly in light of the terror incidents that hit Bahrain.

“The society, as a popular national organization, was supposed to help protect the security of the Kingdom within a spirit of national unity and social peace as stipulated in the Constitution and the law, and not to praise criminals who had carried out terror attacks or to support political societies that harmed the state’s public interests as confirmed by a court of law,” the ministry said.

“Waad has deviated off the normal course of political activities by issuing statements and declarations that were likely to harm public interests, undermine security and stability. The society also failed to recognize the Constitution and thus violated the articles of the Political Society law.”