CAIRO: Bahrain will impose entry visas on Qatari nationals and residents, it said on Tuesday, in what it called a security measure.
The Anti-Terror Quartet — comprising Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE — cut diplomatic, transport and trade ties with Qatar in June, accusing it of financing terrorism.
“The new measures aim at preventing harming the security and stability of Bahrain particularly in light of the latest repercussions of the crisis with Qatar,” said a statement on official news agency BNA.
Citizens from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are supposed to be able to travel within the GCC carrying only an identity card. Bahrain’s visa requirements will apply from Nov. 10.
Bahrain believes Qatar is fomenting unrest in the country by supporting protests and even sporadic shooting and bombing attacks against security forces.
Bahrain’s foreign minister said on Sunday his country would not attend December’s GCC summit if Qatar does not change its policies, and that Qatar should have its GCC membership suspended.
Also on Tuesday, Bahrain’s lower court jailed 10 Shiite men for life on charges of plotting attacks. Three were sentenced in absentia after fleeing to Iran, Ahmad Al-Hamadi, head of the counter-terrorism prosecution, said in a statement on Twitter.
The 10 were also stripped of their Bahraini citizenship, Al-Hamadi said.
They had been charged with forming an outlawed group that plotted “terror” attacks, smuggling arms and ammunition into Bahrain, traveling to Iran and Iraq for military training and possessing arms and ammunition.
On Monday, 19 Shiites were given lengthy jail terms after being convicted of spying for Iran and plotting to overthrow the regime.
Eight were given life terms, nine got 15 years and two received 10 years for espionage and inciting public dissent, a statement from the counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office said.
Fifteen of those convicted on Monday were also stripped of Bahraini citizenship, the statement said.
In April, Parliament gave approval for military courts to try civilians charged with “terrorism,” a vaguely defined legal term in Bahrain.
Manama accuses Iran of training “terrorist cells” that aim to overthrow Bahrain’s government.
Bahrain imposes entry visas on Qatari nationals, residents
Bahrain imposes entry visas on Qatari nationals, residents
Hamas official says group in final stage of choosing new chief
- Hayya, 65, a Gaza native and Hamas’s chief negotiator in ceasefire talks, has held senior roles since at least 2006
- Meshaal, who led the political bureau from 2004 to 2017, has never lived in Gaza
CAIRO: A senior Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that the Palestinian movement was in the final phase of selecting a new leader, with two prominent figures competing for the position.
Hamas recently completed the formation of a new Shoura Council, a consultative body largely composed of religious scholars, as well as a new political bureau.
Members of the council are elected every four years by representatives from Hamas’s three branches: the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank and the movement’s external leadership.
Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails are also eligible to vote.
The council subsequently elects the political bureau, which in turn selects the head of the movement.
“The movement has completed its internal elections in the three regions and has reached the final stage of selecting the head of the political bureau,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak publicly.
He added that the race for the group’s leadership is now between Khaled Meshaal and Khalil Al-Hayya.
A second Hamas source confirmed the development within the organization, which fought a devastating war with Israel following its October 7, 2023 attack.
Hayya, 65, a Gaza native and Hamas’s chief negotiator in ceasefire talks, has held senior roles since at least 2006, according to the US-based NGO the Counter Extremism Project (CEP).
Meshaal, who led the political bureau from 2004 to 2017, has never lived in Gaza. He was born in the West Bank in 1956.
He joined Hamas in Kuwait and later lived in Jordan, Syria and Qatar. The CEP says he oversaw Hamas’s evolution into a political-military hybrid.
He currently heads the movement’s diaspora office.
Last month, a Hamas source told AFP that Hayya enjoys backing from the group’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassem Brigades.
After Israel killed former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July 2024, the group chose its then-Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar as his successor.
Israel accused Sinwar of masterminding the October 7 attack.
He too was killed by Israeli forces in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, three months after Haniyeh’s assassination.
Hamas then opted for an interim five-member leadership committee based in Qatar, postponing the appointment of a single leader until elections, given the risk of the new chief being targeted by Israel.
