Prominent Bahraini human rights defender, Sheikh Maytham Al-Salman called on Bahraini authorities to lift siege imposed on the house of Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Al-Qassem, stressing that every moment of delay in treating the prominent Shia cleric is dangerous to his health.
In a press conference held in Beirut, Sheikh Salman, who heads the Religious Freedom unit at Bahrain Center for Human Rights, said that people of Diraz have been for months subjected to collective punishment represented by siege imposed on the whole town by Bahraini regime forces.
As he called for lifting the siege on the town of Diraz and on Ayatollah Qassem’s house, Sheikh Salman said the top cleric is in critical condition after being denied a safe healthcare.
He was referring to medical treatment by sides whom the family of Ayatollah Qassem trusts.
Sheikh Salman meanwhile, accused Bahraini authorities of carrying out a deliberate and slow killing of Ayatollah Qassem.
The Bahraini cleric stressed meanwhile, on the influential role played by Ayatollah Qassem in the country’s modern history.
“Ayatollah Qassem is one of the founders of Bahrain’s first constitution,” Sheikh Salman said, noting that the prominent cleric “doesn’t only condemn violence, but rather prohibits it,” referring to pro-democracy protesters’ demands deemed by the regime in Manama as “violent”.
Bahrain has been witnessing since February 2011 peaceful protests demanding a just system representing all Bahrainis be established. The protests have been met by brutal crackdown by Al Khalifa that saw prominent opposition leaders and human rights activists prisoned, deported or held under house arrest.
Source: Al-Manar
