Bahrain Freedom Movement
{{more footnotes|date=January 2013}}
{{Infobox political party
| country = Bahrain
| native_name_lang = ar
| colorcode = #0F97D9
| name = Bahrain Freedom Movement
| native_name = حركة أحرار البحرين الإسلامية
| logo = BFM logo.jpg
| logo_size = 200px
| leader = Saeed al-Shehabi
| chairman =
| spokesperson =
| foundation = 1982
| religion = Shi'a Islam
| ideology = Constitutionalism
Islamism
| headquarters = London, United Kingdom
| website = [http://vob.org/ Voice of Bahrain]
}}
{{Politics of Bahrain}}
The Bahrain Freedom Movement ({{langx|ar|حركة أحرار البحرين الإسلامية|Harakat Ahrar al-Bahrayn}}){{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N71kAgAAQBAJ&q=Harakat+Ahrar+Bahrain&pg=PR19|author=Frederic M. Wehrey|title=Sectarian Politics in the Gulf: From the Iraq War to the Arab Uprisings|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0231165129}} is a London-based Bahraini opposition group which has its headquarters in a north London mosque. Its main medium is the Voice of Bahrain website which was blocked for several years by Batelco, Bahrain's sole Internet service provider, on orders from the Ministry of Information.
The BFM played a leading role in the 1990s uprising in Bahrain.
It is led by Said Al Shehabi, who was formerly a member of Bahrain's main Shi'a Islamist party, Al Wefaq Islamic National Society but resigned along with several other members in September 2005 after it ended its boycott of parliamentary elections. Shehabi is a columnist with the London-based Arab newspaper, Al Quds Al Arabi.
The Bahrain government's political reforms in 2001 saw two of the BFM's most prominent leaders leave the movement. Under the reforms, all exiles were invited to return to Bahrain to participate in the political process, and leading members returned to their homeland. Although all of its members have received political amnesties and most have returned to Bahrain to participate in the political process, several have remained in London where they hold the status of asylum seekers.
On March 7, 2011, Al Shehabi alongside Hasan Mushaima, the leader of the Haq movement and Abdulwahab Hussain, the leader of the Wafa movement, formed the "Coalition for the Republic", calling for an overthrow of the Sunni government, because of the crackdown in February during the Bahraini uprising of 2011.{{cite news|newspaper=Reuters|date=March 8, 2011|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bahrain-republic/hardline-shiite-groups-demand-republic-in-bahrain-idUSTRE7273FG20110308|title=Hardline Shi'ite groups demand republic in Bahrain|accessdate=August 3, 2019}}
See also
External links
- [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8437221645219917285 Video: Bahrain – The Story of Constitutional Uprising]
- [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8207296200885546643 Carlton TV documentary about Bahrain Uprising]
- [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1407567243827985805 Channel 4 video of Bahrain Uprising]
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Bahraini political parties}}
Category:Bahraini uprising of 2011
Category:Political parties in Bahrain
Category:Republicanism in Bahrain
Category:1982 establishments in the United Kingdom
Category:Political parties established in 1982
Category:Organizations of the Arab Spring
Category:Political opposition organizations
Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by Bahrain
Category:Shia Islamic political parties
{{Bahrain-stub}}