Bahrainis to Stage Rally in Support of Sheikh Qassem
People in Bahrain are going to hold a rally on Friday to break a siege on the house of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Issa Qassem.
According to al-Alam news channel, the February 14 Coalition Youth has urged people to take part in the demonstration aimed at breaking the siege placed by Al Khalifa regime forces on the house of the senior cleric.
On June 20, Bahrain said the citizenship of Sheikh Qassem has been revoked, accusing him of sowing sectarian divisions.
Sheikh Qassem, who is considered the spiritual leader of Bahrain’s Shia majority, was alleged to have used his position to "serve foreign interests and promote... sectarianism and violence,” the Bahraini ministry said in a statement.
The regime’s forces later put the cleric’s house under siege.
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.
