Report: Bahrain to charge 23 with belonging to a 'terrorist network' (plot to overthrow the gov.)

[Turborama]

Source: CNN International

By the CNN Wire Staff. September 5, 2010 --

Bahrain says it plans to charge 23 people for plotting to overthrow the government and for belonging to what officials described as a sophisticated terrorist network, the Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported on Saturday. The agency said the charges, to be brought by public prosecutors, follow an intelligence operation and that arrests of those in the network started on August 13.

Bahrain is a tiny island kingdom on Saudi Arabia's eastern coast. It is predominantly Shiite but has Sunni rulers. Among the accused, at least 20 are Shiite opposition leaders, according to Reuters.

"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 Bahraini public prosecution official Abdulrahman al-Sayed, according to BNA.

Members of the suspected 23-man network include academics, taxi drivers, civil servants and dentists, BNA reported. It said two London-based Bahraini nationals would also be charged.

Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/09/04/bahrain.arrests/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn#fbid=5tFS21of5oJ&wom=false

[JerseygirlCT]

1. Not that I condone it in any way, but it doesn't surprise me

As the article says, the majority of the population is Shiite, very poor and not well treated by the small Sunni rulers - though they have been doing better than some of their peers in the gulf as far as small steps toward democracy go.

I was there 30 years ago, and there was always an awareness that the situation was precarious and things could blow at any time.