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| US warns Bahrain opposition leader's arrest could 'inflame tensions' | |
| (4 months later) | |
| The State Department has expressed deep concern over the detention of the Bahraini opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, warning the arrest could lead to more tensions in the island kingdom. | |
| Sheikh Salman, head of the al-Wefaq Islamic Society, was arrested on Sunday after leading a protest rally against elections in November which his party boycotted. He was remanded in custody for a further week on Tuesday. | |
| “Opposition parties that peacefully voice criticism of the government play a vital role in inclusive, pluralistic states and societies,” the State Department said in a statement on Wednesday. | |
| “We are concerned that this action against a senior leader of the opposition will only inflame tensions,” it said. | |
| The United Nations human rights office in Geneva earlier said it was concerned that a potentially lengthy prison sentence could be handed to Sheikh Salman. | |
| A statement issued by Bahrain’s Public Prosecution on Thursday said Sheikh Salman was being interrogated on charges that include spreading ideas to defy the regime and authorities. | |
| It said he had been confronted by recordings of a speech he gave to the general conference of the Wefaq party and a television interview in which he said that the opposition in Bahrain had received offers to emulate the Syrian opposition and take up arms, which it had refused. | |
| He is still being questioned in the presence of lawyers and the public prosecution has allowed family members to visit him in detention, the statement said. | |
| Bahrain, whose government has close relations with the US and Britain, has been gripped by tension since 2011 protests led by majority Shi’ite Muslims demanding reforms and a bigger role in running the Sunni-led country. | |
| Al-Wefaq did not take part in the November poll, saying that parliament would not have enough power and that voting districts favoured the kingdom’s Sunni Muslims. | |
| Separately, a Bahraini court on Wednesday sentenced prominent human rights activist Mohammed al-Maskati to six months in jail on charges of taking part in an illegal gathering in 2012, his lawyer said. Bahraini officials could not be reached for comment. |