DUBAI: The head of Bahrain’s largest Shia opposition movement will face prosecutors today after police in the Sunni-ruled kingdom interrogated him over a meeting with a senior US diplomat.
Cleric Ali Salman, who heads Al Wefaq, and his political assistant, former MP Khalil Marzooq, were summoned by police yesterday to appear before the public prosecutor, the movement said.
That came after police questioned them the same day about the “meeting with US Assistant Secretary of State” Tom Malinowski and the “political situation in Bahrain and the region,” said Al Wefaq.
On Monday, Bahrain told Malinowski, who is the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour, that he was “unwelcome” in kingdom and should “leave immediately.”
The Gulf state’s interior ministry confirmed that the two Shia leaders were questioned separately yesterday over the meeting with Malinowski.
Al Wefaq said the move “accentuated the crisis” in Bahrain and demonstrated “the lack of willingness for dialogue” by the authorities to resolve the issue.
The ministry said the meeting at the US embassy violated a rule stipulating that contacts between political associations and foreign parties “should be coordinated with the foreign ministry and in the presence” of its representative.
The rule also stipulates that the justice ministry, which oversees political associations, should be informed of such meetings “at least three days in advance.”AFP
