Tensions rise in Bahrain amid Shiite arrests

Political tensions have risen in recent days in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain, where Shiite Muslim clerics and a prominent activist have been arrested as the island kingdom gears up for parliamentary elections in October.

Activists, mostly Shiites protesting government policies and the recent arrests, blocked roads near the capital Wednesday night, and set fires to trash cans.

The latest troubles began last weekend when Bahraini authorities arrested four Shiite activists, including Abduljalil Singace, a key figure in the Shiite opposition group Haq, on vague security accusations. Singace was reportedly detained at the airport in Manama, the capital, upon his return from London where he had spoken at a conference on human rights issues in Bahrain.

Another four activists were detained during the week.

An unidentified security official told the state-run news agency that the four activists arrested over the weekend were being held on charges of attempting to form a network aiming to destabilize the country and threaten national security. The network, said the official, had tried to carry out “illegal practices and other acts that would harm the stability of the kingdom of Bahrain and its civil peace, as well as endangering lives and properties.”

Bahrain hosts the United States Navy’s 5th Fleet, which patrols the Persian Gulf. The majority of the population is Shiite but the oil-rich country is ruled by a Sunni dynasty. Shiites, some of them close to Iran, have repeatedly complained about discrimination in the job market and say the Sunni-dominated government, which has strong ties to Saudi Arabia, is trying to dilute their influence.

International human rights monitors have called on the Bahraini authorities to release the activists, who include two clerics, or bring formal charges against them.

“If the government of Bahrain can show these activists are engaged in criminal behavior, why is it resorting to vague and anonymous allegations?” Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director of New York-based Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “A country that respects human rights, as Bahrain claims to do, does not arrest people just because they harshly criticize the government.”

The activists detained during the week include Mohammed Saeed, a board member of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, which was ordered to shut down in 2004 but continues to operate, partly out of London. Saeed was picked up at his home in northern Bahrain early Tuesday morning by security forces, his advocates said.

“We don’t know where Saeed is or where the others who were arrested are,” Nabeel Rajab, president of the center told The Times in a phone interview. “Their families and their lawyers have not been allowed to see them.”

Rajab said political tensions in Bahrain were escalating and that the opposition is getting increasingly disgruntled. He accused the government of censoring news websites reporting on the political turbulence.

“It’s getting out of hand,” he said. “People are angry here and I don’t think it will cool down. I just wonder how we will hold elections in this atmosphere,”

Critics of the Shiite protesters urged them to calm down, saying they risk dragging the country into a state of emergency if they continue staging protests and showing public discontent.