Alwaght- Bahrain Regime arrested another senior Shiite cleric as well as preventing the Shiites’ Friday Prayer to be held as the ruling Al Khalifah regime continues a heavy-handed crackdown on the Shiitte community in the country.
Bahraini forces arrested Seyyed Majid al-Mashaal, the secretary of Muslim Scholars Council, after raiding his home on Saturday morning, PressTV reported.
On January 29, 2014, a Bahraini court decided to dissolve the council which was founded in 2004 under the leadership of Sheikh Issa Qassim, and ordered the liquidation of its assets.
Also thousands of Bahrainis took to the streets of Diraz, west of the Bahraini capital Manama, on Friday condemning the ongoing religious persecution, practiced by the Bahraini authorities against the followers of the Shiite sect. This came after the authorities prevented the largest Shia congregational prayers from being held.
The regime did not allow the largest Friday prayers from taking place in the Shiite Imam Sadiq Mosque in Diraz, after preventing prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Mohammad Sanqour from reaching the mosque to lead the prayers.
Protestors called on the authorities to put an end to the targeting of the Shia majority in the country, as the government has taken a series of serious measures last month, threatening the Gulf Kingdom's security.
The authorities dissolved the main opposition group Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, in addition to two other Shiite religious societies. Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa later issued a royal decree, stripping Bahrain's Shia spiritual leader Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim of his nationality, and referring him to trial at a court over trumped-up charges.
Since February 14, 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis, calling on the Al Khalifah rulers to relinquish power.
In March that year, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — themselves repressive Arab regimes — were deployed to the country to assist Manama in its crackdown on protests.
