Bahrain’s top cleric says opposition movement keeping up with its cause

Bahrain’s most prominent Shia cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim says the opposition movement in the kingdom would keep up with its cause until the people’s rights are recognized by Manama. The top cleric said in a statement carried by Bahrain Mirror on Tuesday that people in Bahrain are expressing their opposition to the regime by peaceful means. He condemned the regime’s continued crackdown on opposition, saying the government’s prisons are filled with political activists and prisoners of conscience, and that its courts are still issuing “unjust” verdicts against them. The cleric noted that the relation between the government and the nation is “not normal” because of the government’s stance, adding that the solution is to establish a just relationship between the two sides through dropping death sentences issued against opponents and releasing political detainees.   Bahraini protesters demand that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power and allow a just system representing everyone to be established. Manama has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent. On March 5, 2017, Bahrain’s Parliament approved the trial of civilians at military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being tantamount to imposition of an undeclared martial law countrywide. King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah ratified the constitutional amendment on April 3 the same year.