King keeps “door open for dialogue” – Sheikh Ali Slaman, questioned over use of the “R-word”

Police: What did not mean by ‘revolution’?

Bahrain questions Shiite leader over statements made in Egypt
14 October, 2012 – Middle East Online

DUBAI – Bahrain police on Sunday questioned cleric Sheikh Ali Salman, who heads the largest Shiite opposition formation Al-Wefaq, over remarks related to “sectarian and security” matters, the authorities said.

Criminal investigation police questioned him in the presence of two lawyers over statements he made during a visit to Egypt earlier this month, according to a statement carried by the BNA state news agency.

Salman admitted referring to a “revolution in Bahrain” but said he “did not mean toppling the regime, while he meant demanding freedom, democracy, equality and respect for human rights,” BNA said.

The influential cleric also said that Wefaq “rejects violence from all sides, whether from the public or from the government,” and denied harming relations between Bahrain and Egypt.

BNA said Salman’s statement will be referred to the public prosecution service which will decide whether to press charges.

Al-Wefaq slammed the summoning of its leader for questioning, calling it a “trial for political practice and opinion, which falls under the regime’s security approach of confiscating rights and freedoms.”

“This measure aims to tighten already limited freedom of expression,” it said in a statement.

Al-Wefaq dominated elections twice in 2006 and 2010 in Shiite areas of the Sunni-ruled kingdom, and formed the largest single bloc in both parliaments.

But its MPs resigned in protest over violence used by security forces against Shiite-dominated protests that broke out in mid-February 2011 and came under a deadly crackdown a month later. …source