Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement issued on Monday (June 20, 2016) that the decision to strip Sheikh Issa Qassem of his citizenship “takes Bahrain into the darkest days it has seen since the protests and crackdown of 2011.”

“The Bahraini authorities are shutting the door on political reform, while simultaneously stoking dissent. These actions should be met with serious consequences, not expressions of concern,” it added.

Bahrain’s Interior Ministry announced in an statement on Monday the country’s top Shiite cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassem was stripped of his citizenship.

The latest move by the Bahrain regime against the country’s main political and religious opposition figures comes amid a heavy clampdown launched by the Al Khalifa regime against the opposition, represented by the Shiite majority.