Bahraini Opposition Leaders Sentenced to Life in Prison
Overturning a recent acquittal, a Bahraini court sentenced three political opposition leaders to life in prison on November 4. Sheikh Ali Salman, Sheikh Hassan Sultan, and Ali al-Aswad, prominent Shia political figures, were accused of spying on behalf of the Qatari government.
The reversal came only weeks before Bahrain’s parliamentary elections. The convicted officials belonged to Al-Wefaq, a popular Shia political group that the Bahraini government forcibly dissolved in 2016. In the 2010 parliamentary elections, Ali Salman’s party held a plurality of seats in the country’s legislature.
The court’s decision followed a familiar pattern of political suppression in Bahrain. Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa holds absolute authority in a kingdom that has banned all formal political parties. Parliamentary powers in Bahrain do not extend beyond rubber stamping royal initiatives, while elections are merely ceremonial, and dissent is treated with force, according to Freedom House.
Appropriately, the ruling infuriated human rights activists and government critics alike. Amnesty International rebuked the government’s “unlawful efforts to silence any form of dissent.” Calling the ruling a “travesty of justice,” Sima Watling, the organization’s Bahrain specialist, claimed the court cited discussions between Ali Salman and the Qatari foreign minister from 2011 as the basis for the conviction.
The conviction of Shia political leaders has exacerbated religious tensions within Bahrain. Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy rules over a majority Shia populace. Socially and economically marginalized, the kingdom’s Shia citizens have criticized the government for decades. Anti-government protests in 2011, though quashed swiftly, invigorated dissent.
In 2017, Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia severed all official ties with Qatar. The recent case relates to Bahrain’s accusations against Qatar, a Shia emirate, which it claims has fomented instability in Bahrain. The recent sentencing has reinforced this narrative.