Bahrainis Resolute in Anti-Regime Protests: Cleric
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Bahraini nation will press on with the protests against the Manama regime, a member of the presiding board of Bahrain’s Ulema (scholars) Council underlined, saying the harsh crackdown on dissent and the recent death sentences show the depth of the crisis the regime is facing.
Speaking to Tasnim, Sheikh Mohammad Hassan Khojasteh underlined the Bahraini nation’s determination to continue holding anti-regime protests, regardless of international silence on the widespread violation of human rights in the country or foreign support for the ruling Al Khalifa regime.
Denouncing a rise in the number of arrests and death sentences handed down to dissidents in the Persian Gulf country, the cleric stressed that people will maintain the uprising against the regime with the motto “our will is stronger.”
The harsh crackdown on protestors and the death penalties reveal that the ruling regime’s situation is like that of a drowning person grabbing at anything to survive, Khojasteh added.
Bahrain, a close ally of the US in the Persian Gulf region, has been witnessing almost daily protests against the ruling Al Khalifa 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.