Demand against al-Wefaq marks one of sharpest blows yet against civil society activists in the Sunni-ruled island nation

A court in Bahrain has ordered the country’s main Shia opposition group to be dissolved in a further crackdown on dissent in the strategically important western-allied kingdom.

The order against al-Wefaq marks one of the sharpest blows yet against civil society activists in the Sunni-ruled island nation, which was rocked by widespread protests led by its Shia majority demanding political reforms five years ago.

Bahrain, which hosts the US navy’s Fifth Fleet, crushed the 2011 protests with help from its larger neighbours, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. But ongoing, low-level and occasionally violent unrest continues to agitate the kingdom despite reforms put in place following the Arab spring-inspired uprising.

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Bahraini dailies al-Ayam and al-Wasat said Sunday’s ruling calls for the group’s assets to be liquidated and transferred to the state treasury. Al-Wefaq representatives could not immediately be reached, and government officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Brian Dooley, director for human rights defenders at the Washington-based Human Rights First, described the court ruling as the “government’s single most repressive act of the last five years”. He said: “Today’s decision is a dangerous mistake, leaving no real outlet for peaceful grievance left in Bahrain. The kingdom’s government has told its people that from now on not only are you not allowed rights, you’re not allowed to complain about it.”

Authorities suspended al-Wefaq’s activities and froze its funds last month, accusing the group of creating “a new generation that carries the spirit of hatred” and of having links with “sectarian and extremist political parties that adopt terrorism”.

Abdullah al-Shamlawi, a lawyer who had been defending al-Wefaq, said at the time that the order came “out of the blue”. He has denied all the allegations. He and other members of the defence team pulled out of the case after the judge refused to allow them access to al-Wefaq’s offices to prepare their defence.

On Sunday, he referred to media reports of the court ruling because, as far as he understood, no one was in court to represent al-Wefaq.

An appeals court in May more than doubled a prison sentence against the group’s secretary general, Sheikh Ali Salman, following his conviction on charges that included incitement and insulting the interior ministry. Other activists who were not already behind bars on earlier convictions have been targeted in recent weeks.

Prominent human rights advocate Nabeel Rajab was detained last month on a charge of spreading “false news” and has since received medical treatment for an irregular heartbeat. Activist Zainab al-Khawaja fled to Denmark after being released from prison on humanitarian grounds. Her activist father remains imprisoned on a life sentence for his role in the 2011 protests.

Authorities last month stripped the citizenship of the country’s leading Shia cleric, Sheikh Isa Qassim, prompting protests by his supporters. Officials accuse him of creating a sectarian atmosphere and of forming groups that “follow foreign religious ideologies and political entities”. That charge was an apparent reference to Shia powerhouse Iran, which Bahrain and its Gulf allies see as a destabilising rival stoking unrest in the kingdom. Iran denies interfering in Bahraini affairs. Its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called the move against Qassim “blatant foolishness and insanity”.

The situation in Bahrain is raising alarm in Washington. A bipartisan group of US senators earlier this month wrote to the secretary of state, John Kerry, to express concern about the Bahraini government’s targeting of peaceful political opponents and civil society activists, saying the situation could destabilise the US ally, spark violence and encourage meddling by Iran. A state department report sent to Congress days earlier found Bahrain had fallen short in implementing political and human rights reforms recommended by an independent commission in the wake of the 2011 unrest.