MANAMA, Sept 5, (Agen-cies): Prosecutors have pressed terrorism charges against Shiite opposition activists in Bahrain raising tensions in the run-up to an Oct 23 election in the Gulf state where a Sunni royal family rules a mainly Shiite population.
The charge sheet released on Saturday accused the 23 activists — 10 of them prominent opposition figures — of “undermining national security.”
It alleged that the “leaders of the terror network” held secret meetings in Bahrain and abroad in a bid “to change the political regime through illegal means.”
Most of the suspects are members of Haq — the Movement of Liberties and Democracy — a Shiite group which rejected as inadequate reforms intended to put an end to Shiite-led unrest that rocked the 35 island archipelago through the 1990s.
Those reforms, enshrined in a 2002 charter, converted the Gulf emirate into a constitutional monarchy but Haq boycotted parliamentary elections in 2006 and intends to do the same next month.
Chief suspect Abduljalil al-Singace, a prominent Haq leader who was arrested on August 14, stands accused of “running an illegitimate network,” as well as “leading sabotage cells... contacting foreign organisations and providing them with false and misleading information about the kingdom.”
Seven other opposition figures, who were arrested in mid August face similar charges.
They are Mohammed Saeed, a board member of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Sheikh Mohammed al-Moqdad — alias Mohammed al-Saffaf — Sheikh Saeed al-Nuri, Abdulghani Ali Issa Khanjar, Jaffar al-Hessabi, Abdulhadi al-Mokhaider and Abdulla Isa Abdulla.
Saeed is also charged with receiving “financial support from foreign parties to achieve his illegitimate goals.”

Two leading opposition activists among the accused are being tried in absentia. Both Husain Mashaima, the Haq secretary general, and Saeed al-Sheehabi, secretary general of Bahrain Freedom Islamic Movement, live in London.
Another 13 Shiite activists, all in custody, are accused of “joining the network... which aims to overthrow the government and change the political and social regime of the state... (by) illegal means.”
The arrests have raised tensions between the government and the mainstream Shiite opposition which took part in the 2006 election, winning 17 of the 40 seats in parliament.
Sheikh Ali Salman, leader of the Islamic National Accord Association, warned last month that they would “lead to more protests.”
He mocked the authorities’ accusations against those arrested saying they could not have all belonged to a single secret organisation as they had different opinions.
Sporadic acts of violence have hit the kingdom in recent month. A fire in a scrapyard, which the authorities said was arson, triggered last month’s arrests.
On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch called on the Bahraini authorities to investigate allegations of torture made by four of those detained.

Lead suspect Singace told Bahrain’s attorney general late last month that he had been tortured by security forces while in custody over the previous 15 days, the New York-based watchdog said.
On Sunday, Bahrain’s Cabinet warned that anyone convicted of trying to undermine the state would be deprived of rights such as housing assistance and other government help.
Rights groups say more than 250 Shiites have been detained. The backlash spilled onto the streets: Shiite gangs and police clashed on opposite sides of barricades of burning tires.
“This sophisticated terrorist network with operations inside and outside Bahrain has undertaken and planned a systematic and layered campaign of violence and subversion aimed squarely at undermining the national security of Bahrain,” said a statement by public prosecution official Abdul-Rahman al-Sayed after the arrests were announced Saturday.
No details of the alleged coup plot have been made public. But the tough line raises questions about whether officials could clamp down even harder during the approach to Oct. 23 elections for parliament, where Shiites currently have 17 of the 40 seats and could make a bid for a majority in the upcoming balloting.

But the deeper repercussions touch on Bahrain’s commitment to press ahead with its democratic reforms in a region still dominated by tribal dynasties. The confrontation also showcases Bahrain’s role as the centerpiece for Gulf concerns about Shiite Iran.
Every Gulf nation harbors suspicions about Iran’s effort to expand its regional clout. Yet only Bahrain has a Shiite majority — nearly 70 percent — that is seen as possible beachhead for Iran on the Arab side of the Gulf.
Hard-liners in Iran have often echoed the complaints by Bahraini Shiites about discrimination and perceived second-class status and have sometimes described Bahrain as Iran’s “14th Province.” But no clear evidence has emerged of Iranian aid to the Shiite opposition groups in Bahrain, and Bahrain’s leadership issued a statement last week distancing itself from any accusations toward Iran.
Still, that doesn’t lessen the anxiety by the Sunni rulers, analysts say.
“Part of all this is definitely fear of the Iranian threat,” said Shadi Hamid, a Gulf affairs researcher at the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar. “There is more and more concern about Iranian influence even if it can be proven or not.”

Bahrain — about 530,000 nationals on an island smaller than New York City — was once an international business hub for the Gulf, but that role has been mostly eclipsed by Dubai and Qatar’s capital, Doha, in the past decade. Instead, Bahrain has banked on its strategic role as the center for US Naval operations in the region.
At the same time, Bahrain has experimented with a Gulf brand of democracy: It has an elected parliament, but the sheikdom’s rulers still set key policies and keep a Sunni stamp on important levers of power such as the security forces.
“The scope of these crackdowns is particularly frightening because it could dramatically roll back years of reform and Bahrain’s claim that it is an emerging democratic country,” said analyst Hamid.
Media advocates, meanwhile, have denounced the closure of some independent Bahraini websites and a gag order for local media on reporting about the arrests.

The blocked sites include podcasts of the independent Al-Wasat newspaper and the web page of the Wefaq society, the largest Shiite bloc in Bahrain’s parliament. Last month, the Wefaq leader, Sheik Ali Salman, said the crackdown has “destroyed 10 years of progress” in Sunni-Shiite relations in Bahrain after the last sectarian unrest in the 1990s.
Bahrain’s Shiites say they have nothing to do with Iran and are only seeking equality in a country where they are the majority. But their demands are seen by many Sunnis as a stalking horse for Tehran’s regional ambitions.
“The government in Bahrain likes to play the Iran card,” said JE Peterson, a Gulf affairs scholar affiliated with the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arizona.
But he believes Bahrain’s rulers are more interested in preserving their own political survival and privileges as Shiite activists gain more confidence.
“I think they are trying to send a message to the Shiites on the streets,” he said, “And that message is: Be careful.”

Support
Kuwait Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah expressed Sunday his country’s firm support to Bahrain in its measures to thwart terrorist plans harming national security of the Kingdom.
Sheikh Nasser, in a phone call with Bahrain Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa, said Kuwait and Bahrain have common security concerns and both were fighting terrorism.
Bahrain News Agency (BNA) said Prince Khalifa appreciated “brotherly feelings” of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and Sheikh Nasser towards Bahrain.
The government, said Prince Khalifa, “will be always at front in protecting its citizens and expatriates and properties from saboteurs” through specific measures.