Opposition Figure Calls on Regional Counties to Help Bahrainis

A senior Bahraini opposition figure called on regional countries to rush to assist the people of the Arab country and support their protests against the Manama regime’s continued crackdown on peaceful dissent.

In a speech in the southwestern Iranian port city of Bushehr Friday night, Sheikh Abdullah al-Saleh, the deputy secretary general of Bahrain’s Islamic Action Society, deplored the interference of some Western countries in the internal affairs of the Persian Gulf island.

The Britons came from thousands of kilometers away to occupy Bahrain, he said, wondering why Bahrainis should not be able to stand up against them.

The cleric further called on regional countries to assist the Bahraini people and said, “Why are they (foreigners) allowed to come to regional countries, but regional nations cannot stand up against them?”

The remarks came as Bahrain’s opposition groups have called on the people of the country to stage more demonstrations and take part in a civil disobedience campaign in protest at the Manama regime’s continued crackdown on peaceful protests.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Bahraini revolutionary groups announced that the civil disobedience campaign will start on Tuesday, March 14, and last until Wednesday morning.

They called on the Bahraini people to participate in the mass protest in solidarity with Sheikh Isa Qassim, the spiritual leader of Shiites in the Arab kingdom, as Manama plans to hold the trial of the top cleric on March 14.

The statement asked students to refuse to go to schools or universities on Tuesday and instead pour into streets and gather in front of the house of Sheikh Qassim in Diraz, west of Manama.

The trial session of Sheikh Qassim had been scheduled on February 27 but was adjourned until March 14 after the prominent cleric refused to appear in court.

The Bahraini regime announced on June 20, 2016, that it had revoked the citizenship of Sheikh Qassim. The regime later said it would put the senior cleric on trial on charges of “illegal fund collections, money laundering and helping terrorism”.

Sheikh Qassim’s previous trials had also been postponed after the prominent cleric did not appear in court.