DUBAI: A court on Sunday ordered the dissolution of Bahrain’s Shia main opposition group Al-Wefaq, despite international criticism of the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom’s intensified crackdown on dissent.

The administrative court in Manama also ordered the funds of the group, found guilty of “harbouring terrorism” among other charges, to be seized by the government, said the justice ministry.

The ruling can still be appealed in the case which Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said his country would continue to follow “closely”.

Al-Wefaq was the largest group in parliament before its lawmakers resigned en masse in protest at the crushing of demonstrations in 2011 calling for an elected government.

The court said Al-Wefaq, which draws most of its support from Bahrain’s Shia majority, incited violence and encouraged demonstrations and sit-ins which threatened to spark “sectarian strife”.

It said the bloc had “criticised the performance of the state authorities — executive, judicial and legislative”. Britain was quick to condemn the ruling.

“I am deeply concerned” by the court decision, said Johnson, urging the Bahraini government “to guarantee and protect political freedoms for all its citizens. I encourage all sides to engage in constructive and inclusive dialogue to promote social cohesion and inclusivity, including political representation, for all Bahrainis,” said the new foreign minister.

On June 28, Al-Wefaq’s defence lawyers withdrew from court proceedings in protest at the government’s push to accelerate the process, which had initially been set for Oct 6.

The court had already suspended all of Al-Wefaq’s activities on June 14, ordering its offices closed and assets frozen.

But Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa insisted “there will be no backtracking on the measures taken to preserve the nation’s security and stability. There are hands that sought to become tools used by foreign regimes which want no good for Bahrain and its people. Their attempts have failed,” he said in remarks published on the official BNA news agency.

That is an allusion to Iran which Bahrain, home to the US Fifth Fleet, accuses of fomenting unrest among its Shia majority.

The justice ministry, which sought Al-Wefaq’s dissolution, had accused the bloc of providing a haven for “terrorism, radicalisation and violence” and opening the way for “foreign interference” in the kingdom’s affairs.

In October 2014, the administrative court banned Al-Wefaq for three months for violating the law on associations.

Political parties are banned in Bahrain, as in other Gulf Arab monarchies, so Al-Wefaq has the status of an association.

Al-Wefaq, also known as the Islamic National Accord Association, is heir to the Bahrain Freedom Movement which played a key role in Shia-led anti-government protests in the 1990s that sought the restoration of the elected parliament scrapped in 1975.

Sunday’s ruling comes despite appeals by the United Nations, United States and rights groups for the legal action against the bloc to be dropped.

Washington has labelled the crackdown on Al-Wefaq as “alarming” and repeatedly appealed for “reform and reconciliation” in Bahrain.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had also expressed concern about the move against Al-Wefaq.

In recent months, Manama has intensified its crackdown on leading Shia figures.

Al-Wefaq’s chief, Shia cleric Ali Salman, is serving a nine-year jail term for inciting violence after a court in May more than doubled his sentence.

His arrest in December 2014 sparked protests in Bahrain, already rocked by the Shia-led uprising that erupted in February 2011.

Authorities have also stripped at least 261 people of their citizenship since 2012, according to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, including the country’s Shia spiritual leader Sheikh Isa Qassem.

And on Tuesday, a court denied bail for prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab as he went on trial on charges of insulting a state institution and neighbouring Saudi Arabia online.

Amnesty International and Human Rights First were among international rights watchdogs that had voiced concern over the legal proceedings against Al-Wefaq and the government’s crackdown on opponents.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2016