Ayatollah Malakouti: Trial of Ayatollah Qassim will accelerate fall of Bahraini regime

AhlulBayt News Agency - A member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts condemned Manama for a decision to put prominent Shi’a cleric Ayatollah Qassim on trial, predicting that the move will speed up the collapse of the Al Khalifah regime.

Speaking to the media, Ayatollah Ali Malakouti pointed to the possibility that Ayatollah Isa Qassim, the spiritual leader of Bahrain’s Shi’a majority, will be put on trial in coming days, and said such a move by the Manama regime would be “contrary to religion and humanity.”

If the Al Khalifah regime makes the brazen move to try him, “the absurdity and stupidity of the regime will be proved to the world,” the cleric said.

Ayatollah Malakouti added that the trial of Ayatollah Qassim will make people’s blood boil and accelerate the extinction of the “hollowed out state.”

The Al Khalifah regime in Bahrain has declared Wednesday as the date for the trial of distinguished cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim.

Bahraini sources said on Monday that Manama will bring to trial the 79-year-old Shia cleric on charges of “illegal fund collections, money laundering and helping terrorism” on July 27.

The regime announced on June 20 that the citizenship of Ayatollah Qassim has been revoked, accusing him of sowing sectarian divisions.

Bahrain, a close ally of the US in the Persian Gulf region, has been witnessing almost daily protests against the ruling Al Khalifah dynasty since early 2011, with Manama using heavy-handed measures in an attempt to crush the demonstrations.

Scores of Bahrainis have been killed and hundreds of others injured and arrested in the ongoing crackdown on the peaceful demonstrations.

Amnesty International and many other international rights organizations have frequently censured the Bahraini regime for the rampant human rights abuses against opposition groups and anti-regime protesters.




/129