AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): A large number of people staged demonstrations in Bahrain to demand the release of Sheikh Ali Salman, the secretary general of the country’s main opposition group the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society,
The rallies were held in Manama, the capital and other cities and parts of the Arab country, on the 9th anniversary of the prominent cleric’s arrest, the Bahrain Mirror reported.
The demonstrators carried the photos of Sheikh Salman and banners calling for his release and the release of other political prisoners.
They condemned the Al Khalifa regime’s repression of opposition groups.
They also chanted slogans against the regime’s normalization of ties with the Zionist regime, demanding that the Israeli envoy be expelled from Bahrain.
In Manama, police prevented the demonstrators from marching toward the city center.
The Manama regime has gone to great lengths in recent years to clamp down on any sign of dissent.
Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain ever since a popular uprising began in the country in mid-February 2011.
They are demanding that the Al Khalifa regime relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.
Bahrain’s highest court in January 2019 upheld life sentences against three opposition leaders, including Sheikh Ali Salman, on charges of “spying for Qatar”.
Sheikh Salman was convicted in November 2019 of “communicating with Qatari officials... to overthrow constitutional order,” a ruling rights groups denounced as a travesty of justice.
The London-based human rights group Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) said the verdict marked the end of a “long, flawed trial”.
Back then, al-Wefaq stated that the Bahraini judiciary was a tool in the hands of the ruling Manama regime, and the ruling reflected the magnitude of turmoil in the kingdom.
Qatar has categorically denied accusations of conspiring with Salman against Bahrain.
Human rights groups have frequently said cases against activists in Bahrain fail to meet the fundamental requirements of fair trials.
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