Shi’ite cleric warns Bahrain nearing “abyss”
\nJune 10, 2011 1:30 PM EDT<\/p>\n
A top Bahraini Shi’ite cleric said trials of dozens of people and the breaking up of Shi’ite religious marches were dragging the country towards destruction, not reconciliation, ahead of a planned national dialogue.<\/p>\n
State officials have promised the talks, which King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa said would start on July 1, can discuss all types of democratic reforms in the country, rocked by anti-government protests that were quashed by security forces in March.<\/p>\n
But Sheikh Issa Qasim, the most revered Shi’ite cleric in Bahrain, told a crowd of hundreds in his Friday sermon that current conditions did not match government rhetoric.<\/p>\n
“This country is being brought closer to an abyss of terrifying destruction unless quick reforms are offered to satisfy the people,” he said.<\/p>\n
Opposition groups say hundreds of people, most of them Shi’ite, have been put on trial on charges ranging from illegal gatherings and fabricated news to plotting a coup with foreign terrorist organisations. They say over 1,000 people remain in detention. The government says the numbers are much lower.<\/p>\n
Bahrain’s Sunni rulers said the democracy protests earlier this year, led mostly by the country’s Shi’ite majority, had a sectarian agenda and help from Iran. The opposition denies this.<\/p>\n
Emergency law was lifted last week, and since then small protests have broken out daily in Shi’ite neighbourhoods that are quickly broken up by riot police.<\/p>\n
Sheikh Abdul-Aziz bin Mubarak al-Khalifa, Senior International Counselor from the Information Affairs Authority, has encouraged protesters to stop and instead focus on national dialogue. “We hope people will channel their energy in a more positive direction,” he said. …more<\/a><\/p>\n