Report: Bahrain Detains Five Lebanese for ‘Contacting Foreign Parties’

Bahrain authorities detained on Tuesday five Lebanese residents from the Fneish family for allegedly contacting unidentified foreign “parties,” a clear reference to Hizbullah.

Al-Akhbar newspaper on Wednesday quoted informed sources as saying that “Bahraini security forces raided the ‘Beiruti’ restaurant in central Manama at 10:00 am, detained five Lebanese employees, and confiscated documents and computers.”

The five Lebanese were “transferred to military prosecution, which means they’re in a dangerous status,” the source said.

Meanwhile, the undersecretary of the Interior Ministry for Passport Affairs, Sheikh Rashed al-Khalifah, denied in a statement to al-Akhbar that Bahrain had stopped issuing visas to the Lebanese.

“Officials are examining applications thoroughly. This procedure isn’t applied on the Lebanese only but on all foreigners and Arabs,” al-Khalifah said.

The report in al-Akhbar came as Bahrain warned its citizens against travel to Lebanon following comments by Hizbullah’s Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on the Shiite-led protests in the Gulf kingdom.

Bahrain also urged its citizens in Lebanon "to leave immediately.”