Bahrain police break up sit-in over cleric’s arrest

DUBAI (Reuters) – Bahraini police clashed with
demonstrators holding a sit-in at the Gulf Arab state’s airport
on Sunday to protest against the arrest of a Shi’ite cleric as
he returned from Iran, Al Jazeera television reported.

Police dispersed the protesters demanding the release of
Sheikh Mohammed Sanad, who an Interior Ministry official said
was detained hours earlier on security charges as he flew back
home after a visit to Iran, the television reported.

The least wealthy of the Gulf oil producers, Bahrain has a
history of political tension over unemployment and alleged
human right abuses.

The pro-Western island state, headquarters of the U.S.
Navy’s Fifth Fleet, witnessed political unrest in the 1980s and
the 1990s by its Shi’ite Muslim majority who were demanding
more rights from the Sunni-led government.

Since coming to power in 1999, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa
al-Khalifa has introduced some political reforms, including
pardoning political prisoners and exiled activists.