AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Bahrain’s Interior Minister Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa hinted at a possible crackdown against annual Ashura commemorations next week, warning worshipers that Manama’s security services would be ‘monitoring’ the situation.
During a Tuesday meeting with the Jafari Endowments Board Chairman Yusef Al Saleh, the minister said that “raising slogans or pictures of religious or political figures or foreign parties … will not be allowed.”
“Those who are overseeing religious rituals are burdened with contributing to control the situation,” Al Khalifa was quoted as saying by the Manama-based Al-Ayam newspaper.
In recent years, Manama’s security forces have routinely targeted all displays associated with Ashura as well as those observing it.
Last year alone, Bahraini authorities interrogated more than 30 Shiite religious figures and administrators, detaining more than a dozen of them.
According to rights groups, Ashura marches were attacked with tear gas and shotgun pellets while in numerous Shiite villages black flags and Ashura banners were forcibly removed by police.
Ashura is a major part of the Shiite religious calendar when communities around the globe mourn the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS).
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source : LuaLua TV
Wednesday
4 September 2019
12:48:16 PM
973703
Bahrain’s Interior Minister Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa hinted at a possible crackdown against annual Ashura commemorations next week, warning worshipers that Manama’s security services would be ‘monitoring’ the situation.