Bahrain Shi'ite Opposition Leader Returns Home

A hard-line Shi'ite dissident has returned to Bahrain from exile to join an opposition movement demanding that the island kingdom's Sunni rulers accept a more democratic system.

Hassan Mushaimaa, London-based leader of the Shi'ite Haq movement, told media as he arrived that "dialogue...is not enough. Promising is not enough" and called for immediate political reforms.

Mushaimaa had originally planned to return last week to test a dialogue offer by the king.

But Lebanese authorities temporarilly seized his passport during a stopover in Beirut on February 22, saying his name was on an international arrest warrant.

Tens of thousands thronged the streets of Manama on February 25 in one of the biggest demonstrations since unrest erupted in Bahrain 10 days earlier.

Reuters