nigerians rally to support top bahraini cleric Sheikh Qassim

The protesters held a rally in Nigeria’s second largest city of Kano, following Friday prayers to voice their strong support for the 79-year-old cleric, and denounce a recent raid on his supporters.

They held pictures of Sheikh Qassim and Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, the jailed leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), slamming Saudi Arabia’s support for the Manama regime.

“We have gathered here to condemn the Bahraini regime’s [Wednesday] attack on the sit-in near Sheikh Qassim’s residence” in the Arab country’s northwestern village of Diraz, said Sheikh Abdul Qadir Sanusi, a spokesman for the IMN.

He also censured the revocation of the senior Bahraini cleric’s nationality as well as Manama’s continued persecution of Shia Muslims.

Manama has gone to lengths to clamp down on the dissent and rights activists. On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to Bahrain to assist the Manama government in its crackdown.

Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of Al Khalifah regime’s crackdown on anti-regime activists.