Hezbollah Deplores Continued Suppression of Opposition in Bahrain
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Lebanese Hezbollah Islamic Resistance Movement in a statement on Wednesday denounced the ongoing detention of a senior Bahraini opposition politician and called for his imminent release.
“Despite all the condemnations from various human rights groups and NGOs in the Arab World to the detention of... Mr. Khalil Marzooq by the Bahraini authorities, these authorities seem to insist on using violence and oppression against this decent person,” the statement said.
“We, in the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc... call for the imminent release of Marzooq and all political detainees in Bahrain,” the statement added, the Lebanese Daily Star reported.
The statement also accused the Bahraini authorities of “tyrannizing the oppressed people of Bahrain who absolutely reject the policy (of these authorities).”
Khalil Marzooq, political assistant to the secretary general of al-Wefaq, was summoned to a police station last week and was then arrested on charges of inciting youth violence and trying to overthrow the government.
Also, Marzooq was ordered to be held for 30 days during the investigation.
Al- Wefaq party said it considered the move an escalation in the government's campaign to suppress dissent in the country.
The statement came after Secretary General of the Lebanese Hezbollah Resistance Movement Seyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday criticized the Bahraini regime for its crackdown on peaceful protests in the Persian Gulf state, saying Bahraini nation insists on peaceful approaches to their rights.
“Nobody has resorted to military option and (the Bahraini nation) keeps insisting on peaceful ways to call for their rights,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech.
He also criticized the Bahraini regime for invoking military support from neighboring Arab countries to crush peaceful opposition protests, noting that the move reveals “weakness” of the regime.
“What is going on (in Bahrain) is very dangerous, some of the clerics are deprived of citizenship, mosques are being destroyed, and political and religious leaders and clerics are thrown in prison,” he warned.
Bahrain was rocked by massive popular protests in 2011. Although the government, backed by troop mainly from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, managed to suppress the protests very quickly, security forces continue to attack peaceful protesters who want an end to the rule of Al Khalife royal dynasty.
Dozens of protesters have been killed in Bahrain since anti-regime protests erupted in February 2011, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.
