Bahrainis hold anti-regime rallies ahead of Sheikh Salman's trial
Hundreds of Bahrainis have staged several anti-regime protest rallies across the Persian Gulf Island state on the eve of the trial of the distinguished opposition cleric, Sheikh Ali Salman.
Peaceful protesters took to the streets in the villages of Diraz, al-Markh and Saar as well as Bilad al-Qadeem town on Sunday evening, calling for the immediate release of Sheikh Ali Salman, the secretary general of the country’s dissolved al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, and other political detainees.
On October 16, Bahrain’s Court of Cassation ordered a retrial of the senior opposition figure, who has been sentenced to nine years in jail in a series of previous trials.
Earlier this month, the tribunal adjourned to 12 December the trial of Sheikh Salman.
Amnesty International and other human rights groups have slammed his arrest and called for his release.
During the Sunday rallies, the demonstrators also expressed their solidarity with Bahrian's prominent religious scholar, Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim, who was stripped of his citizenship on June 20 in yet another repressive measure by the regime against political dissent.
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