The Bahraini government re-scheduled the September 4 court hearing on dissolving al-Wefaq Society for Tuesday.
Represented by the Ministry of Justice, the Bahraini government demanded the implementation of article 23 of Law on Political Associations which states that the court should decide on dissolution requests within thirty days at most.
The Bahraini Administrative Court received a request last week from the Ministry of Justice to change the hearing on dissolving Wefaq, yet the court set the date on September 4 instead of October 6.
Wefaq’s legal representative Abdulallah al-Shamlawi said that the defense team is indecisive as to the approach on dealing with Tuesday’s hearing.
The team will be insisting on postponing the hearing until September 4 given the lack of developments, he added.
“The society is now under the control of the head of Associations’ Bureau and subject to judicial custody, according to the sentence issued on June 14,” he explained.
Wefaq’s defense team consists of 15 lawyers.
The Bahraini government accused Wefaq Islamic Society of conducting "terrorist" acts, spreading extremism in Bahraini society and jeopardizing civil peace.
The society faces a long list of charges, in particular allegedly challenging the legitimacy of the Bahraini Constitution and describing the government as “unconstitutional.”
The trial date was bumped up just after Bahrain stripped the country's top Shia cleric, Sheikh Qassim, of his citizenship.
Bahrain has cracked down on protests by the Shia community, and has recently taken to revoking citizenship of prominent activists.
