Alwaght- Bahraini regime's longstanding crackdown against Shiites of the Sunni-ruled state has finally made the US to call on its ally to stop discriminating against the majority population.
"In Bahrain, the government continue to question, detain and arrest Shiite clerics, community members and opposition politicians," US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday.
Bahrain that hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, has witnessed thousands of anti-regime demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the tiny kingdom in mid-February 2011.
The pro-democracy protesters call on the west-backed Al Khalifa dynasty relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.
"Members of the Shiite community there continue to report ongoing discrimination in government employment, education, and the justice system," adding that "Bahrain must stop discriminating against the Shiite communities," the top American diplomat said..
Manama has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent. 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.
In May a Bahraini court sentenced Bahraini Shiites' spiritual leader, Ayatollah Isa Qassim, to one year in jail suspended for three years for allegedly collecting funds illegally and money laundering. The regime’s court also ordered the top cleric to pay 100,000 Bahraini dinar ($265,266) in fines. The charges emanate from the collection of an Islamic tax called Khums, which in Shiite Islam is collected and spent by a senior cleric in the interests of the needy.
Ayatollah Isa Qassim was stripped of his nationality last June 2016 where Bahrainis have been protesting outside his house since then protesting the illegal move by the Al Khalifa regime.
Bahraini security forces, trained by British police, were also backed by foreign forces to suppress Bahrainis' peaceful demonstrations.
In March 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — themselves repressive Arab regimes — were deployed to aid Bahrain in its brutal crackdown. Many people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or been arrested and illegally detained
