Over 100 Bahraini clerics protest restrictions on religious life

Over 100 Bahraini clerics signed a petition to protest the Interior Minister’s statements about new regulations to be imposed on religious freedoms. Last Monday, the minister said clerics will need to get approval to deliver religious sermons from governmental bodies. The petition followed a precise joint-statement issued by the top clerics in the country.
“In light of the Interior Minister’s last statement about religious sermons, the clerics find themselves before two commissions; the official commission to get an approval to give sermons and the holy commission which contradicts this king of commission. The clerics can only put forth the holy commission”, the statement said.
Furthermore, the clerics saw the regulations as an attempt to undermine the independency of religious life.