Rights group slams Aal-e Khalifah over crackdown on dissent
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Bahrainis hold placards bearing the portrait of Sheikh Ali Salman, head of the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, during an anti-regime protest in a village on the outskirts of Manama, May 29, 2016.
A Bahraini human rights group has censured the Aal-e Khalifah minority ruling regime over its heavy-handed crackdown on freedom of religion in the Persian Gulf island State, saying Manama is increasingly targeting Shia Muslim clerics and religious figures.
According to Press TV, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), in a statement released on Friday, expressed grave concern over the alarming repression of human rights advocates and prosecution of a large number of clergymen in the country.
The BCHR pointed to the rise in the summons and interrogations of clerics, saying the measures are part of an intimidation campaign aimed at stifling the religious freedom of Shia Muslim preachers and their right to free speech.
It also called on the Aal-e Khalifah regime to comply with the international human rights regulations, and allow UN rights experts to visit Bahrain.
On June 16, Shia Muslim clerics in Bahrain stopped holding congregational prayers in the country in protest at the repressive policies of Aal-e Khalifah regime.
The clerics, in a statement titled “Those Barred from Praying” released on Thursday, condemned the Bahraini regime’s efforts to restrict Shia Muslims’ freedom of religion and belief, describing the situation in the country as “deplorable.”
The statement said that the Al Khalifah regime’s systematic suppression of Bahraini Shia Muslims has reached its highest level ever.
Members of the Bahrain’s largest religious community feel insecure, facing threats of arrest and prosecution if they seek to observe their religious rituals, primarily congregational prayers and Friday prayers, it added.
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