Bahrainis repeat call for Sheikh Salman’s release
Bahrainis have taken to the streets to denounce the continued detention of prominent religious scholar Sheikh Ali Salman and call for his immediate release.
The Arabic-language Bahrain Mirror news website reported that Bahrainis staged several protests across the country on the sixth anniversary of Sheikh Salman’s arrest on Monday.
Carrying photos of Sheikh Salman, the protesters chanted slogans calling for his release.
Sheikh Salman, the secretary general of Bahrain’s main opposition bloc, al-Wefaq, was arrested on December 28, 2014 on false charges of attempting to overthrow the Manama regime and collaborating with foreign powers.
He has rejected the accusations, saying he has been seeking reforms in the country through peaceful means.
In November 2017, Sheikh Salman and two of his colleagues, Hassan Sultan and Ali al-Aswad, were accused again on what the Manama regime called “spying on behalf of a foreign country... with the aim of carrying out subversive acts against Bahrain and harming its national interests.”
In June 2018, a regime court acquitted the trio of all the charges against them with regard to alleged espionage for Qatar.
In January 2019, Bahrain’s highest court upheld the life sentence against Sheikh Salman and the two other opposition leaders on charges of spying for Qatar.
Qatar, currently embroiled in a rift with Saudi Arabia and its Persian Gulf allies, has categorically denied accusations of conspiring with Sheikh Salman against Bahrain.
SS
