Bahrain opposition demands probe into British “spy” allegations
(AFP)
4 October 2006
MANAMA – Bahrain’s Shiite-led opposition demanded an independent inquiry Wednesday into the expulsion last month of an alleged British spy who claimed to have uncovered a plot to maintain Sunni domination of the Gulf kingdom.
The largest party representing the archipelago’s Shiite majority—the Islamic National Accord Association—said agreement needed to be reached with the opposition on the make-up of a neutral commission to investigate the allegations made by Salah Al Bandar.
“We demand the formation of a neutral commission of inquiry because the affair is exceptional and the contents of the report are serious and threaten national unity,” the association said.
Bahrain opposition demands probe into British “spy” allegations
(AFP)
4 October 2006
MANAMA – Bahrain’s Shiite-led opposition demanded an independent inquiry Wednesday into the expulsion last month of an alleged British spy who claimed to have uncovered a plot to maintain Sunni domination of the Gulf kingdom.
The largest party representing the archipelago’s Shiite majority—the Islamic National Accord Association—said agreement needed to be reached with the opposition on the make-up of a neutral commission to investigate the allegations made by Salah Al Bandar.
“We demand the formation of a neutral commission of inquiry because the affair is exceptional and the contents of the report are serious and threaten national unity,” the association said.
“It should be chaired by an independent figure whose nomination should be agreed by both government and opposition,” it said, adding: “The regime’s credibility is at stake.”
Salah Al Bandar, who was expelled from Bahrain last month, said he had uncovered a secret organization operating within the Sunni-led government to “deprive an essential part of the population of this country of their rights”.
“This group aims to prevent people from participating in electing freely their representatives … in order to transform the political opposition into a mere figure opposition and block any chance of alternation in the executive power,” he said, alluding to parliamentary elections due later this year.
Bahrain, which was shaken by a wave of Shiite unrest in the 1990s, revived its elected parliament in 2002, although the opposition continues to object to the splitting of legislative power equally between the elected chamber and an appointed consultative council.
Minister of state Sheikh Ahmed bin Attiyatallah Al Khalifa, whom Bandar accused of heading the alleged “secret organisation” within the government, last month denounced the charges as a plot to ”undermine national unity (and) throw doubt on the elections and on certain political personalities
