Al Khalifa Warned against Verdict for Sheikh Qassim
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Representative of Sheikh Isa Qassim, the spiritual leader of Bahrain’s Shiite majority, cautioned the Manama regime against the “dire consequences” of any “ill-advised move” against the popular cleric, who is reportedly going to receive a verdict on May 7.
In an interview with the Tasnim News Agency on Friday, Sheikh Abdullah Daqaq, Sheikh Qassim’s representative in Iran, said the Al Khalifa regime will have to face the serious consequences of any prison sentence against the highly revered cleric or a court ruling to send him into exile.
Any wrong move against Sheikh Qassim will trigger the “eruption of a volcano” whose dire fallout will bring Al Khalifa to its knees, he warned.
Last month, a Bahraini court delayed the verdict in the case of Sheikh Qassim. The court had earlier set March 14 as the date to issue its ruling, but adjourned its decision until May 7.
The Manama regime announced on June 20, 2016, that the citizenship of Sheikh Qassim had been revoked, accusing him of sowing sectarian divisions.
The regime later said it would put the senior cleric on trial on charges of “illegal fund collections, money laundering and helping terrorism.”
Bahrain, a close ally of the US in the Persian Gulf, has been witnessing almost daily protests against the Al Khalifa dynasty since early 2011, with security forces resorting to harsh measures against demonstrators.
Scores of Bahrainis have been killed and hundreds of others injured and arrested in the ongoing crackdown on the peaceful protests.
