Bahrainis Rally in Support of Sheikh Qassim
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – While the Manama government was to hold another court session on Thursday to try prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim, Bahraini citizens poured into streets across the Persian Gulf country to reaffirm support for the popular figure and criticize the ruling regime’s conduct.
Thousands of Bahraini people staged anti-government demonstrations overnight into early hours of Thursday morning to warn against any offence against their sanctities.
Expressing support for Sheikh Qassim, the spiritual leader of Bahrain’s Shiite majority whose nationality has been revoked by the Al Khalifa regime, the protesters slammed the trial in absentia of the cleric as a bogus and unfair one aimed at silencing dissent.
The Al Khalifa regime announced on June 20 that the citizenship of Sheikh Qassim has been revoked, accusing him of sowing sectarian divisions.
The regime later said it would put the senior cleric on trial on charges of “illegal fund collections, money laundering and helping terrorism.”
But Sheikh Qassim has not appeared in any of the court sessions in the past weeks.
Meanwhile, the trial session planned for Thursday was adjourned until September 26, according to Al-Manar.
