Alwaght- Al Khalifa regime has revoked the citizenship of Bahrain's leading Shiite cleric, Sheikh Isa Qassim, taking another suppressive measure against regimes' opponents.
Prominent Bahraini cleric and politician is the spiritual leader of Bahrain's biggest opposition society Al Wefaq that was suspended by the western-allied al Khalifa regime last week.
Stripping the outspoken critic's citizenship could further deepen political impasse in Saudi-backed Arab Island.
Bahrain suspended the country's main opposition al-Wefaq on 13 June setting a hearing in October to look into dissolving it.
Al-Wefaq’s Secretary General Sheikh Ali Salman has been in prison since December 2014 on charges of attempting to overthrow the regime and collaborating with foreign powers, which he has denied. A court sentenced him to four years in prison in June 2015.
Bahrain has been witnessing pro-democracy demonstrations by majority Shiite Muslims since 2011 demanding a bigger role in government.
Al Khalifa regime responded to protesters with Iron fist with aid of its Arab patrons, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
On 14 March, The Persian Gulf Cooperation Council deployed the so-called Peninsula Shield Force troops to Bahrain to help in the crackdown on peaceful protests. Saudi Arabia deployed about 1,000 troops with armored support, and the United Arab Emirates deployed about 500 police officers.
More than a hundred people have been killed while hundreds more were sent behind bars, most of them still there, in what human rights campaigners say is Manama’s lack of tolerance for dissent.
Sheikh Isa Qassim criticized this move describing it a veiled challenge to Shiite representation in the government.
