According to Ahlul Bayt News Agency – ABNA – Ahlul Bayt World Assembly has issued a proposal to tackle the crisis in Bahrain following the delay in Sheikh Isa Qassim's verdict announcement.
Parts of the statement goes, "postponing Sheikh Isa Qassim's verdict announcement who is one of the pious scholars and is central to the world of Islam means that the trial of Shia figures will continue to happen".
Full text of the statement is as follows:
In the name of God
I will turn away from My signs those who are arrogant upon the earth without right; and if they should see every sign, they will not believe in it. And if they see the way of consciousness, they will not adopt it as a way; but if they see the way of error, they will adopt it as a way. That is because they have denied Our signs and they were heedless of them. Surah Al-A'raf [7:146]
The Al-Khalifa high criminal court has announced on Sunday that the verdict announcement of Sheikh Isa Qassim and other "criminals" in this case will be postponed for the tenth time, while Saudi military forces entered Bahrain in military vehicles.
The decision comes after a large popular movement in solidarity with Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim. A movement which stood firm in spite of all the oppression against Bahraini people, scholars, mosques, and religious circles. The movement manifests the legitimacy of Bahraini people's demands and is the fruits of 6 years of resistance.
Ahlul Bayt World Assembly, from a religious and political stance, invites the Al-Khalifa regime to answer and listen to the demands of the Bahraini people through a national reconciliation plan. According to this plan all the prisoners of conscience, including Sheikh Ali Salman and other national and religious figures, should be released. Their freedom plays a crucial role in putting an end to the current crisis in Bahrain and establishment of a new political system. Also the exiled Bahraini citizens who have been wrongfully robbed of their nationalities should return to Bahrain and their nationalities given back to them.
The Assembly stresses on the followings:
- Ahlul Bayt World Assembly is grateful to the scholars, Islamic society, and brave people of Bahrain for defending the martyrs, prisoners of conscience, and religious and political figures.
- Postponing Sheikh Isa Qassim's verdict announcement who is one of the pious scholars and is central to the world of Islam means that the trial of Shia figures will continue to happen.
- Continuing the policy of suppression and disregarding the demands of people will negatively affect the security in the region.
- The Bahraini government must defend the civil rights of people and has no right to exile them from their ancestral land.
- We urge the prominent figures and international organizations to stop the unlawful actions of the Bahraini regime. Should the crisis continue, the whole country and the region may fall into a human disaster which its consequences are beyond prediction.
Ahlul Bayt World Assembly
May 7th, 2017