Brussels, 28/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - Returning to the decision of the Manama administrative court in Bahrain on the legal status of the main opposition group, the Shi'ite al-Wefaq, which was put on hold for several months, the European External Action Service (EEAS) stated on Tuesday 28 October that it was “regrettable that this legal issue, which was the subject of a notification from the Ministry of Justice at the start of the year, was not able to be the subject of a resolution before the temporary suspension of al-Wefaq's activities”. “We hope that al-Wefaq will swiftly be able to bring a response to the grievances raised by the Ministry of Justice so as to enable it to resume its activities”, the EEAS added.
On 28 October, al-Wefaq was banned from activity for three months. General elections, which the group wanted to boycott, are due to take place on 22 November.
In June 2012, the Ministry of Justice appealed to the Manama administrative court, which criticised al-Wefaq for violating the law on associations and gave it three months to comply with the rules. This law governs the activities of political movements because the country's law does not explicitly recognise the right to found so-called political parties. (CG)