Bahrain bans main opposition movement

A Bahrain court has banned the country's main Shiite opposition movement, Al-Wefaq, weeks before parliamentary elections are scheduled to begin on November 22. Defense laywer Abdullah al-Shamlawi told the Associated Press that the verdict meant Al-Wefaq's activities would come to a standstill for the next three months.

Shortly before the ban on Al-Wefaq, the opposition party announced that it was boycotting the elections, citing the government's lack of genuine efforts to reconcile with its people. Bahrain's four main opposition movements, including the Al-Wafaq, announced that they would organize "peaceful protests" until their demands were met.

The November elections are the first polls after widespread unrest organized by the Shiite opposition movement rocked the country in 2011. Al-Wefaq, which led the protest movement against the kingdom's Sunni regime, participated in the government in 2010 after 18 of its members were elected into parliament.

However, the party withdrew its members after the 2011 uprising was crushed by the government, a close ally of the US and member of the coalition fighting against the "Islamic State" in Iraq.

mg/cb (AP, AFP)