Alwaght- Hundreds of Bahrainis have protested in different areas across the tiny Persian Gulf monarchy, demanding that the authorities lift the house arrest imposed on spiritual leader of the Shiite majority, Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim.
During the Friday protests, given a blackout by mainstream media, Bahrainis also demanded an end to the discrimination and persecution practiced against Shiite Muslims.
Social media activists published pictures of demonstrations in Buri, Bilad Al-Qadeem, Musalla, Abu Sibah, Shakhoura, Southern Sahla, Karana and a number of other areas, during which protesters chanted anti-regime slogans and called for ending the ruling Al Khalifa family's monopoly over power.
Demonstrators also called for the release of political prisoners, particularly [opposition] leaders, expressing their condemnation of the policy of impunity and demanding that those involved in human rights violations be held accountable.
Activists documented the authorities' use of teargas and shotgun pellets in their crackdown on a number of peaceful marches.
In May a Bahraini court sentenced Sheikh 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 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.
Activists on social media outlets expressed their concerns over health of spiritual leader of Shiite majority in Bahrain Sheikh Isa Qassim, who is still being under house arrest since May 23, 2017.
