Bahrain opposition groups of Al-Wefaq & Wa'ad deny receiving any government benefits since 2011

AhlulBayt News Agency - Wa'ad Says It Received No Gov't. Benefits Since 2011

The Secretary-General of the National Democratic Action Society (Wa'ad) Radhi Al-Musawi said that "the financial support that the society was supposed to receive completely stopped in 2011 and before that the support was discontinuous, which led us to open the door for donations in 2006 in the general conference that has greatly contributed in covering the society's expenses."

"The Ministry of Justice didn't inform us that it will stop the benefits that it should pay us, a matter which makes us wonder how these funds are paid to societies, as benefits and financial support are given to certain societies but not to Wa'ad and other opposition societies," he further stated.

"It's indeed a political decision and discriminative as well, let alone illegal, as the law stipulates that the Justice Ministry is responsible for issuing the benefits to political parties and isn't allowed to stop paying these benefits to societies unless it wants to impose a penalty, which cannot be imposed without a decree or judicial sentence," Al-Musawi added.

He also stressed that these benefits are not favors but are public money that societies are required to receive according to the law.

Al-Wefaq Denies Receiving Any Government Benefits Since 2011

The main opposition group in Bahrain, Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, denied receiving any government benefits since May 2011, noting that the figures published in local newspaper on Monday (April 11, 2016) regarding government funds granted to political societies by the Ministry of Justice included a 84,000 BD sum, which is the cumulative financial benefits from May 2011 to end of 2015.

In a statement, Al-Wefaq highlighted that the aforementioned figure published in the Official Gazette, issue 3256, is the total cumulative sum in the period between 2011 and 2015, of which Al-Wefaq received none. The opposition society considered it as a debt owed by the Ministry of Justice pursuant to the law.




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