Highest Bahraini religious figure calls on UN and int’l community to protect the Shia in Bahrain from sectarian persecution

April 25, 2014

Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassim, the most prominent spiritual leader in Bahrain, called on the UN and the international community to take a serious stance to protect the Shiites in Bahrain from the sectarian persecution that is being practiced by the regime against the Shia community in Bahrain. “The UN, the security council and rights NGOs must go further than issuing statements, to protect this country”, he said in his political sermon today in the Grand Imam Sadiq Mosque in Diraz, west of Manama.

Qassim said by expelling Ayatollah Najati, the Bahraini Authority has officially declared war on the Shiites in Bahrain since the Authority’s permission has become a “prerequisite for our right to belong to the Shia sect”, he stated. “Out of all States in the world, Bahrain declared a blatant, defying and open war on the Shia sect”, he added.

Ayatollah Qassim denied that the Sunnis in Bahrain could have played any role in the sectrian persecution being practiced against Shi’ites in Bahrain.
He called on the people of Bahrain to adhere to nonviolence despite all attempts to distort the peacefulness of the popular movement.
“We don’t want to see this country turning into inhumane and immoral bloodsheds …. No to explosions, no to vandalism, no to destroying of properties”, he said. He addressed the crowds of worshippers and the people saying, “keep calling for your rights and for reform with adherence to non-violence”.