Sheikh Ali Salman, Secretary General of the main opposition group al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, was arrested on 28 December following interrogation at the Ministry of Interior’s Criminal Investigations Directorate in connection with statements made in his speeches in 2012 and 2014, including most recently at the party’s General Assembly meeting on 26 December.

Sheikh ‘Ali Salman was charged with “incitement to promote the change of the political system by force, threats and other illegal means”; “public incitement to loathing and contempt of a sect of people which will result in disrupting public disorder”; “publicly inciting others to disobey the law” and “publicly insulting the Interior Ministry”.

Amnesty International wrote to the Public Prosecution Office seeking further clarifications on the charges but received no answer.

The organization considers the detention and prosecution of Sheikh ‘Ali Salman a flagrant violation of his right to freedom of expression, association and assembly, and urges the Bahraini authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally. If convicted, the organization would consider him a prisoner of conscience.