Bahraini Shiite cleric to stand trial for ‘insulting’ remarks

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): A Bahraini Shiite cleric will stand trial this week for allegedly ‘insulting’ the Rashidun Caliphate.

Sunni Muslims collectively refer to the first four major caliphates established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad as the Rashidun. But the term is not used by Shiite Muslims who do not recognize the rule of the first three as legitimate.

The Shiite cleric, Ahmed Abdulaziz Al Madhi, was detained earlier this month over one of his sermons.

It isn’t clear what his remarks were in reference to the Rashidun.

Al Madhi is one of dozens of Bahraini Shiite religious figures to be harassed and jailed by authorities in Manama in recent years.

Rights groups have accused Manama of marginalizing Bahrain’s Shiite majority through a campaign that undermines the sect’s religious, social, political and cultural rights.

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