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Bahraini Regime Trying Sheikh Qassim on ‘Imaginary Crimes’: Ex-US Diplomat

An American author and former diplomat deplored the Manama regime’s crackdown on dissent and said trying Sheikh Isa Qassim, the spiritual leader of Bahrain’s Shiite majority, on “imaginary crimes” proves how illegitimate the ruling regime is.

“Stripping him (Sheikh Qassim) of his citizenship and seeking to try him on the basis of bizarre and imaginary crimes, such as money laundering, shows how incompetent and illegitimate the Al Khalifa government really is,” Michael Springmann, the former head of the American visa bureau in Saudi Arabia, said in an interview with the Tasnim News Agency.

“The (Bahraini) king likely knows his days are numbered, reinforcing his desire to hang on to his increasing shaky throne,” he said.

J. Michael Springmann served in the US government as a diplomat with the State Department’s Foreign Service, with postings in Germany, India, and Saudi Arabia. He left federal service and currently practices law in the Washington, DC, area. Springmann’s works and interviews have been published in numerous foreign policy publications, including Covert Action Quarterly, Unclassified, Global Outlook, the Public Record, OpEdNews, Global Research and Foreign Policy Journal.

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