DUBAI: Bahrain ordered the release of two former MPs arrested in May after a crackdown on Shiite-led protests pending their trial in a civilian court, state news agency BNA said Sunday.
The public prosecutor has decided to “release several detainees … until the [civilian] court looks into their cases,” including “two former MPs and a lawyer,” BNA reported.

The two former MPs from Bahrain’s largest Shiite formation, the Islamic National Accord Association (Al-Wefaq), Matar Matar and Jawad Fayrouz, were arrested at gunpoint in early May.
The men were being tried by a national safety court for having allegedly called for regime change and spreading rumors linked to the pro-democracy protests.

Bahrain had declared a State of National Safety, a lower degree of emergency, March 16, a day before security forces crushed street protests demanding democratic reforms.
On June 1, King Hamad announced a lifting of the state of emergency and all cases were referred to civilian courts.
At least 500 people have been detained in Bahrain since the protests broke out in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom which has a Shiite majority, according to Amnesty International.
Almost 2,000 people have been dismissed … from their jobs, it said.

Security forces in the tiny archipelago ruled by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty cracked down on mostly Shiite pro-democracy protesters in mid-March after being backed by troops that rolled in from neighboring Sunni Gulf monarchies.
Bahraini authorities said 24 people were killed during the unrest, most of them demonstrators.
The U.S. and others decried the crackdown, urging Bahrain’s rulers to negotiate with protesters and respond to the needs of the people. Bahrain is home to the U.S. Fifth fleet as is considered a major non-NATO ally.