Al-Wefaq denounces Bahraini Regime’s attacks on Muharram rituals, symbols

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Bahrain’s main opposition group, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, condemned the attacks and aggressions by the Al Khalifa regime during the Muharram mourning ceremonies.

Al-Wefaq in a statement slammed the provocative acts by the regime’s security forces against those mourning the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (AS).

It said such moves signify the depth and magnitude of the political crisis in the country and a lack of peaceful coexistence between the rulers and the people.

The statement noted that during the first ten days of Muharram, the regime’s security forces summoned and interrogated Shia scholars, preachers, officials of religious centers, elegists, and other people with the aim of humiliating them for their religious affiliation.

They also tore and brought down Ashura banners and flags in different parts of Bahrain, it said.

Al-Wefaq further slammed the regime for exploiting the coronavirus pandemic as a means to impose its will and restrict religious activities.

Like last year, the Al Khalifa regime in Bahrain took measures to hinder mourning rituals that the country’s Shia majority organize during the month of Muharram.

Shia Muslims around the world mourn the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS), the Sayyid-ul-Shuhada (master of martyrs), in Muharram, the first month in the lunar Hijri calendar.

The third Shia Imam (AS) and a small group of his followers and family members were martyred by the tyrant of his time - Yazid Bin Moaweya, in the battle of Karbala on the tenth day of Muharram (known as Ashura) in the year 680 AD.

The ruling regime in Bahrain has in recent years tried to prevent the country’s Shias from holding the mourning rituals.

Restrictive measures and rights abuses increased in Bahrain in the run-up to Muharram and continued during the first ten days of the month.

The measures included summoning those organizing mourning rituals to threaten them.

Bahrain has seen anti-regime protests over the past nine years. The major demand has been the ouster of the Al Khalifa regime and the establishment of a just and conclusive system representing all Bahraini nationals.

The Manama regime, in return, has ignored the calls and is pressing ahead with its heavy-handed crackdown and persecution of human rights campaigners and political dissidents.

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