Grand Ayatollah Sistani hails Ayatollah Qassim's peaceful efforts in Bahrain

Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Hosseini Sistani has praised efforts by Bahrain's prominent religious scholar Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Ahamed Qassim in defending people’s rights through peaceful means.

According to Press TV, in a telephone conversation on Thursday, Grand Ayatollah Sistani expressed solidarity with Ayatollah Sheikh Qassim, whose citizenship was revoked by the Manama regime this week.

“You are in the hearts and what has occurred will not harm you,” Ayatollah Sistani told Sheikh Qassim, according to Lebanon's Al-Manar television.

The senior religious leader stressed that he would use all means to preserve Sheikh Qassim's rights.

On Monday, Bahrain’s Interior Ministry accused the State's most prominent religious scholar of seeking the “creation of a sectarian environment” through his connections with foreign powers.

The move has raised fears of further unrest in the tiny Persian Gulf country which is already the scene of regular anti-regime demonstrations.

The latest measure by the Bahraini regime against the religious scholar came less than a week after the Bahraini Justice Ministry suspended all activities of al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, the main opposition group in the country.

The kingdom also dissolved two other opposition groups, namely al-Tawiya and al-Risala Islamic associations.

Al-Wefaq’s Secretary General Sheikh Ali Salman has been in prison since December 2014 on allegations of attempting to overthrow the regime and collaborating with foreign powers, which he has rejected.

SS