Bahraini court dissolves main secular opposition group

The move followed a justice ministry petition filed in March accusing the National Democratic Action Society, known as Waad, of "supporting terrorism and sanctioning violence”.

It followed a justice ministry petition filed in March accusing the National Democratic Action Society, known as Waad, of “serious violations targeting the principle of respecting the rule of law, supporting terrorism and sanctioning violence”.

The Arabic-language Al Wasat newspaper said the high administrative court decided to "confiscate its assets for the benefit of the state treasury".

The Sunni left-wing former head of Waad, Ibrahim Sharif, was released from prison last July after serving a one-year sentence for incitement against the government.

He had already served four years of a five-year sentence over the 2011 protests in the kingdom before being released under a royal amnesty in June 2015.

Last year, a court ordered the dissolution of the country’s main opposition party, Al Wefaq, for “harbouring terrorism”. Its leader, Sheikh Ali Salman, has been in prison since 2014.

Bahrain has been rocked by unrest since the 2011 protests, mostly by the Shiite community, calling for reforms. The kingdom has since suffered an increase in attacks against its security services and blames Iran for stoking tensions.

Last week, five people were killed and nearly 300 were detained when security forces broke up a sit in outside the home of Isa Qassim, the sprirtual leader of Bahrain’s Shiites.

Authorities revoked his citizenship last year accusing him of fomenting sectarian divisions.

*Reuters and Agence France-Presse