DUBAI: A Bahraini court yesterday confirmed a travel ban imposed on prominent Shia opposition figure Khalil Marzuq, on trial for inciting terrorism, a judicial source said.
Marzuq’s defence team had requested lifting the travel ban ordered at the first hearing in the trial of the former lawmaker, who was also in court yesterday.
The criminal court set the next hearing for December 12.
Marzuq was arrested on September 17 after being called in for questioning and later charged by the public prosecutor with “promoting acts that amount to terrorist crimes”.
He was released after the trial opened but was banned from leaving the Gulf kingdom, which has been hit by a sporadic Shia-led uprising since February 2011.
At least 89 people have been killed in Bahrain since the Arab Spring-inspired protests erupted, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.
AFP
Kuwaiti MPs plan to grill minister over Shiite move
KUWAIT CITY: Two Kuwaiti Shiite lawmakers yesterday filed a motion to question the municipality minister for allegedly ordering the removal of tents used by Shias at a major religious event.
Abdullah Al Tameemi and Faisal Al Duwaisan accused State Minister for Municipality and Housing Salem al-Othaina of “undermining national unity, destabilising the internal front, misusing authority and breaching the constitution”.
They accused Othaina of ordering the removal of the tents used to mark the martyrdom of Imam Al-Hussein, highly revered by Shiite Muslims, even though the tents were licensed.
The cabinet of the oil-rich Gulf state has ordered an investigation into why the tents were removed and who made the decision.
Shiites say they comprise around a third of the Sunni-ruled country’s 1.22 million native citizens.
Kuwait has witnessed rising sectarian tension during the past few years, mostly impacted by regional turmoil in Iraq and Syria.
The motion to question the minister is the seventh to be filed against members of the Kuwaiti government, formed in August, in the past two weeks.
Two of them have targeted Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak al-Sabah, a senior member of the ruling family.
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