DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – A court in Bahrain on Wednesday ordered the country’s last main opposition group dissolved and its property confiscated.
The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy said the political society known as Waad plans to appeal Wednesday’s ruling. Waad confirmed the court order for its dissolution on its official Twitter account.
The government had launched proceedings to dissolve the 15-year-old group, alleging that Waad incited acts of terrorism and promoted the violent overthrow of the Sunni-led government.
The group’s dissolution comes a week after five people died in a police raid on the hometown of a prominent Shiite cleric. The court ruling is the latest crackdown on dissent in the small island-nation off the coast of the Arabian Peninsula.
Already, the country’s largest Shiite opposition group, al-Wefaq, has been dissolved and hundreds of protesters jailed, forced into exile or stripped of their nationality.
Two smaller opposition groups remain active, however Waad was seen as the last major opposition group still functioning in the island-nation, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. The secular group included both Shiite and Sunni activists and political figures.
“Today matters because it says the government won’t just not tolerate Shiite opposition, it won’t tolerate any opposition,” Brian Dooley, a senior adviser at Human Rights First told The Associated Press.
Rights group Amnesty International said “Bahrain is now heading towards total suppression of human rights” with Wednesday’s court ruling.
The case stems from a statement Waad made in February on the anniversary of the country’s 2011 Arab Spring-style uprising in which the group criticized the Bahraini constitution.
“Their only so-called ‘crime’ is exercising their right to freedom of expression and association,” said Lynn Maalouf, director of research at Amnesty International’s Beirut regional office.