Bahrain Orders Retrial of Opposition Leader

Opposition leader Ali Salman.

Bahrain’s Cassation Court, the highest court of appeals in the state, ordered a retrial for Sheikh Ali Salman, a senior opposition leader imprisoned for his anti-government speeches. His arrest is one part of a larger crackdown on Shiite activists. Despite the national trend toward suppressing dissent, a reversal or decrease of Salman’s sentence could ease tensions within the nation as well as appease Western allies. 

In June of 2015, the Fourth Superior Criminal Court of Bahrain convicted Sheikh Salman of three charges: insulting the Interior Ministry, public incitement to disobedience of the law, and inciting hatred of Bahrainis. Although originally acquitted of a fourth charge that he had advocated for regime change by force, the First Appeals Court increased Salman’s prison sentence to nine years after prosecutors appealed the first decision.

Sheikh Salman is the general secretary of the Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, the largest opposition party to the Bahraini Sunni monarchy. His opposition party has also been a victim of the crackdown on dissidents. In July 2016, the monarchy announced that, based upon charges of fostering terrorism, Al-Wefaq would be dissolved and the state would appropriate its funds. In the same month, the monarchy also revoked citizenship and began a prosecution of Ayatollah Qassim, the highest Shia religious authority within the nation, for charges of illegal fundraising and money laundering.

Bahrain harbors a divide between the Sunni and Shia Islamic religious groups. The political, economic, and military elites are dominated by the Sunni, causing entrenched inequality in employment and status throughout the country. Security officials respond that Iran has penetrated the movements for equality and democracy, and any reform would transform the country into an Iranian puppet.

Widespread mobilization against oppression within the Shia community first began during the Arab Spring in 2011. The opposition protests, originally advocating for democratic change in the government, began to call for the removal of the monarch after security forces targeted and killed protesters. Within a month, Bahrain instituted martial law and allowed Saudi and Emirati troops to enter and suppress the movement, quelling larger calls for progress aside from small, sporadic protests.

Bahrain’s position in the Gulf between two opposed regional powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran, as well as its alliance with the United States, have complicated the international response to the demonstrators and the subsequent oppression of their protests. Although the United States has requested that Bahrain respect human rights, some experts, including Toby Jones and Hossein Askari, believe that American inaction on behalf of the pro-democracy protesters is in deference to Saudi Arabia’s desire for a stable, Sunni-controlled neighbor.

Despite the desire for stability among Middle Eastern allies, the United States, along with international bodies such as the United Nations, has condemned Bahrain’s arrests, unfair trials of dissenters, and arbitrary revocation of citizenship of prominent demonstrators. Human rights groups have urged Western nations to place pressure on Bahrain to end its harsh treatment of opposition in order to promote a more democratic, inclusive society.