Opposition members tried in Bahrain

Reuters quoted the Islamic al-Bahrain al-Ahrar movement as saying on Monday that Bahrain intends to present before the court the opposition Shiite figure Abdul Wahab Hussein after four years of detention.

The opposition group, which takes London as a headquarters, said in a statement that Hussein was a member of a committee which signed an appeal calling for the return of the parliament, which was dissolved in 1975 two years after its election.

Hussein, together with another seven Shiite leaders, was arrested in 1996 amid a wave of Shiite protest and acts of violence against the government calling for political and economic reforms.

Hundreds of Shiites were detained during the strikes that took place in December 1994 and calmed down in 1998.

However, Bahraini Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Issa al-Khaleifa who assumed power following the death of his father in March 1999 gave orders in 1999 to release Sheikh Abdul Amir al-Jamri, a prominent opposition member who was sentenced to ten year imprisonment.