Torpell

Jailed Bahrain dissident chief charged with Qatar
The investigation into purported links between Salman and Qatar was first launched in August, after a quartet of Arab countries.

A Bahraini man holds a placard bearing the portrait of Sheikh Ali Salman, head of the Shiite opposition movement Al-Wefaq, during a protest in May 2016 against his arrest
» more A Bahraini man holds a placard bearing the portrait of Sheikh Ali Salman, head of the Shiite opposition movement Al-Wefaq, during a protest in May 2016 against his arrest

Bahrain has charged jailed Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman with "spying" for Qatar, state prosecutors said Wednesday, after allegations he whipped up protests at Doha's request.
The investigation into purported links between Salman and Qatar was first launched in August, after a quartet of Arab countries -- Bahrain included -- accused their gas-rich neighbour of supporting terrorism and close relations with Shiite Iran.

State-run Bahrain Television aired a report which claimed that neighbouring Qatar was behind anti-government protests that have shaken the tiny kingdom for the past six years.

It alleged that Qatar's former premier Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani contacted Salman -- then head of Bahrain's largest opposition group, Al-Wefaq -- in 2011 and asked him to urge protesters to flood the streets and ramp up pressure on the state.

Salman has been behind bars since 2014 serving a nine-year sentence for allegedly inciting hatred.

He has now been charged with "spying on behalf of a foreign country ... with the aim of carrying out subversive acts against Bahrain and harming its national interests," the Bahraini prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The dissident was also charged with "revealing defence secrets to a foreign country and disseminating information that would harm Bahrain's status and reputation".

The statement did not say when the trial would begin.

Al-Wefaq was the largest group in parliament before its lawmakers resigned en masse in protest at the crushing of Arab Spring-inspired demonstrations in 2011 calling for an elected government.

The Shiite Muslim movement has called for Sunni-ruled Bahrain to become a constitutional monarchy.

The Shiite majority in Bahrain, which has been ruled by the Al-Khalifa dynasty for more than two centuries, has long complained of marginalisation and the country has been rocked by sporadic unrest since 2011.

A Malian soldier guards a checkpoint on the road between Gao and Kidal
» more A Malian soldier guards a checkpoint on the road between Gao and Kidal  (AFP)

Five soldiers were killed Saturday in northern Mali, where a surge in violence has prompted calls for the UN to create a new anti-jihadist force for the region.
Eight soldiers were wounded and nine vehicles were destroyed in the attack on the camp at Bintagoungou at about 5:00 am, an army statement said.

Local sources told AFP earlier Saturday that jihadists led the assault, which took place around 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Timbuktu, and has not been claimed.

"All the camp's military material was ransacked," a local official told AFP.

A resident earlier said that there were "no Malian soldiers to be seen -- the camp has been laid waste. The jihadists left with military hostages."

Northern Mali continues to fall prey to jihadist attacks. Four people were killed in an assault on UN peacekeepers near their base in Kidal earlier this month.

The Group to Support Islam and Muslims, also known as Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen in Arabic, a fusion of three jihadist groups with previous Al-Qaeda links formed in March, claimed that attack.

Led by the Malian jihadist Iyad Ag Ghaly, a former leader of the Ansar Dine Islamists, the group has claimed multiple attacks on domestic and foreign forces since its formation, notably the 12,000-member MINUSMA UN force.

MINUSMA began operations in 2013, providing security to and assisting Malian troops in a region which fell to jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in March 2012.

Although a French-led military intervention the following year drove the groups out of key towns, they have since spread further south in the troubled West African nation.

The unrest has continued despite a 2015 peace deal between the government and Tuareg-led rebels offering partial autonomy to the north.