DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Two former lawmakers from Bahrain's Shia opposition say they have been released from jail pending trial.
Jawad Fairooz and Matar Matar told The Associated Press they were released Sunday afternoon. They were arrested in May and were being held on anti-state charges.
Both are members of Wefaq, the island kingdom's largest Shia party. They were members of parliament until they resigned with the rest of the Wefaq bloc in February following a government crackdown on Shia-led protests.
The official Bahrain News Agency confirmed that the attorney general had ordered the release of the former lawmakers and a number of other detainees, but didn't identify them by name.
