Top cleric urges Bahraini regime to heed public demands on revolution anniversry
On the 14th anniversary of the popular uprising against the ruling Al Khalifah dynasty, Bahrain’s most prominent cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim has called on the Manama regime to take heed of public demands and grant the Arab nation the rights they have long been denied.
Delivering a televised speech during a ceremony in Iran’s holy city of Qom on Thursday evening, he said Bahrainis have been deprived of their fundamental rights for decades.
He said political opponents and human rights campaigners are incarcerated at the Bahraini regime’s jails and detention centers only for the sake of demanding their right to democracy and self-determination.
The senior cleric also called for unity among religious groups in Bahrain, saying divisions would only benefit oppressors and those seeking to suppress them.
Anti-monarchy demonstrations began in Bahrain on February 14, 2011, and have been held regularly ever since the popular uprising started.
Demonstrators demand that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power, and a democratic, just system representing all Bahrainis be established.
The Manama regime, however, has responded to demands for social equality with an iron fist, clamping down on voices of dissent.
In March 2017, Bahrain’s parliament approved the trial of opposition civilians at military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being tantamount to the imposition of an undeclared martial law.
The monarch, King Hamad, ratified the constitutional amendment in April 2017, bringing about further suppression of political dissent on the tiny Persian Gulf Island under the strong influence of the Saudi regime.
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