Bahrain cuts internet connections, cellular coverage in cleric’s village

Aal-e Khalifa forces have disabled internet connections and cellular coverage at the native village of the Bahrain's prominent religious scholar, Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim whom the Manama regime last month stripped of his citizenship.

According to the reports, Manama repealed Sheikh Qassim’s citizenship on June 20 amid an intensifying crackdown on the pro-democracy drive across the Persian Gulf country. Shortly after taking the measure, the military surrounded Diraz, his native village, with checkpoints, stopping people from entering it.

The Middle East Eye on Tuesday cited a villager, named Ali, as saying, “Every night, we face internet disruptions and disconnections. First the whole signal is disconnected for a few seconds, then the signal is back but there is not cellular data, no 3G, no 4G.”

As a result, people are unable to report and post footage of instances of abuse, which they have been doing since 2011, when Bahrainis started a countrywide uprising against the regime.

Hashtags communicating the plight of the villagers have also come under barrages of anti-Shia tweets, apparently sent from automated sources.

On Wednesday, dozens of Bahrainis amassed in front of the cleric’s house, holding mass prayers on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

SS