Bahraini Sheikh Sanqour Released

The release was announced Wednesday by the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy [BIRD] and comes after protestors were joined by scholars to denounce the recent arrest of the prominent cleric and have called for his release.

Sanqour, the Friday prayers leader of Imam Al-Sadiq Mosque in Diraz village, was detained on Monday. According to the Gulf state's main, yet outlawed, opposition group Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, a number of security forces surrounded his house before handing him a summons for interrogation at a local police station and being taken before the Public Prosecution Office [OPP].

Hours later, a statement from the interior ministry said his case was being referred to OPP over “repeated inflammatory speeches that included legal violations” and “publicly inciting hatred and contempt for a group of people.”

Since the scholar’s arrest, protestors have poured out into the streets across parts of the country, demanding his release, while a statement issued by Bahraini scholars said that Sheikh Sanqour “is a well-known scholar, who is only known for his integrity in approach, honesty in his logic, concern for his religion and homeland, and for his advice for the interest of the homeland and people.”

“We see no reason for summoning, interrogating and arresting him. We demand his releases, as the country is in dire need of establishing an atmosphere of calmness and harmony,” the statement added.