Islam Times - Bahrain Regime Blocks Shiites’ Friday Prayers for 82nd Week

Islam Times - The repressive Bahraini regime has used once again prevented Shiite Muslims from holding weekly Friday prayers for the 82nd consecutive week amid a brutal crackdown and illegal siege imposed on Diraz area.

Sources say the West-backed regime has deployed heavily armed troops early Friday around Imam Al-Sadiq Mosque in Diraz, where the largest Friday prayers have been held over the years.

Despite the crackdown, dozens of protesters have staged a peaceful rally to condemn the ban on holding Friday prayers and to denounce the Al Khalifah regime’s continued detention of the spiritual leader of Bahraini Shiite Muslims, Sheikh Isa Qassim. Shiite Muslims are the majority in Bahrain but continue to face oppression and discrimination from the ruling Al Khalifa dynasty.

The protesters, who also expressed solidarity with martyrs of the uprising against Al Khalifa regime, marched through the streets of the northwestern village of Diraz after security forces closed blocked access to Imam Al Sadiq Mosque and prevented them from gathering for prayers.

Bahraini authorities revoked Sheikh Qassim’s citizenship on June 20 2016 and alter later dissolved the main opposition bloc, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, as well as the Islamic Enlightenment Institution, founded by the 79-year-old Shiite claric, besides another opposition movement, the al-Risala Islamic Association.

Since February 14, 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis, calling on the Al Khalifah family to relinquish power.

Troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been deployed to the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protests.

Many people have been killed and hundreds of others injured or arrested in the Bahraini crackdown on the anti-regime activists.