Bahrain Mirror: Representative of the Bahraini Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments, which is responsible for sending a request to close down and dissolve Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, filed a new request on Sunday (June 26, 2016) to expedite the administrative court hearing. The court answered the request, bringing forward the hearing to Tuesday, after it was set to be held on September 4, 2016 in a decision announced last Thursday.

For his part, lawyer Abdullah Al-Shamlawi said via his personal Twitter account that he received a notice to attend as Al-Wefaq representative in the Al-Wefaq suspension and dissolution court session to be held on Tuesday instead of the original date that was scheduled for the session in September.

"We received a summoning to attend the Al-Wefaq dissolution hearing on June 28 instead of September 4, without learning the reason behind the expedition for a second time," he stressed.

On June 14, 2016, a Bahraini court ordered, in a sudden move, closing down the offices of Al-Wefaq society and freezing its assets, following a Justice Ministry request to dissolve the opposition group.

The judiciary in the Gulf kingdom has been the subject of widespread criticism on the international level, as a number of international organizations deemed the judicial system politicized and exploited by the authorities as a tool to target dissent and activists.

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