Sheikh Rashed bin Abdullah al-Khalifa told parliamentarians that Bahrain planned to extend the period for which detainees could be held without formal charges to 72 hours or more from 48 hours, the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported.
The interior minister said the amendments were lessons drawn from the arrest and subsequent pardoning of protesters and activists, the news agency reported. In April, authorities arrested two for possession of explosives and firearms.
Gulf Arab state Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, in December arrested a group it accused of planning to overthrow the government and later put them on trial together with members of a Shi’ite opposition movement.
Last month, Bahrain’s king pardoned 178 people charged with breaching state security, including two Shi’ite opposition leaders whose arrest sparked violent protests and regular night time battles between police with teargas and youths with bottles and barricades.
Bahrain is ruled by a Sunni dynasty but has a Shi’ite majority population, which complains of marginalization in jobs and services. Government officials have denied the claims.
