Bahrain’s top opposition figure freed

DUBAI: A Bahraini court on Wednesday acquitted prominent opposition figure Khalil Marzooq on charges of inciting terrorism in the Gulf kingdom, a judicial source said.
Marzooq, a former MP for the main opposition movement Al-Wefaq, was arrested on Sept. 17. He has been out on bail since his trial began on October 24 but prohibited from traveling abroad. Marzooq was in court for the verdict, along with representatives of the opposition as well as delegates from the embassies of UK, France, Germany and US.
The prosecutor had accused Marzooq of using his position at Al-Wefaq, which is an authorized political association, to “call for crimes that are considered terror acts under the law,” according to an initial list of charges.
The prosecutor confronted Marzooq with his public speeches in which he allegedly supported the “principles of terror elements... especially the terrorist group named the February 14 Coalition, which he openly supported,” the charge sheet said.
It said Marzooq had raised the flag of the clandestine group at a public rally after it was handed to him by a masked man.
In a statement that followed the verdict, the prosecution said it was reviewing the court decision and “looking into the possibility of appealing it if legally justified.”
Marzooq was deputy speaker in the 40-member Parliament before 18 MPs from Al-Wefaq walked out in February 2011 in protest over violence against demonstrators.