Fifty opposition members jailed in Bahrain


The political stalemate continues in Bahrain, where the government – ignoring ongoing international criticism – is pursuing its policy of restricting opposition freedoms and detaining or jailing opposition members, and mainstream opposition parties have again boycotted the National Dialogue in protest. Amid the ongoing conflict, however, there are occasional glimmers of reform. On 26 September, King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa relinquished the role of president of the Supreme Judicial Court, appointing in his place Salim Al-Kuwari, a senior judge. The king’s handing over of the judiciary is unprecedented, but passed largely unnoticed. Al-Kuwari was also named president of the Court of Cassation, while Sheikh Khalifa Bin Rashid Al-Khalifa becomes president of the constitutional court.