Bahraini regime seeks to dismantle Shia social fabric with war-related crackdown: Lawyer

By Press TV Website Staff

As the Al Khalifa regime in Bahrain intensifies its crackdown on Shia citizens following the recent US-Israeli war against Iran, a human rights lawyer says the campaign goes far beyond punishing dissent as it aims to dismantle an entire community's religious and social infrastructure.

Speaking in an interview with the Press TV website, Baqer Darwish, Chairman of Bahrain Forum for Human Rights, noted that Manama has launched a systematic campaign against the Arab country's Shia community.

"The current government strategy appears to be the systematic uprooting of the Shia community's social and institutional foundations," he said.

Darwish described a sweeping campaign that began with the launch of US-Israeli aggression against Iran in late February and has continued even after the fragile ceasefire in April.

More than 200 individuals have been detained, he said, including Sayed Mohammad al-Mousawi, a torture victim killed under torture following accusations of sympathizing with Iran.

Citizens who posted video content on social media condemning the unprovoked and illegal war against Iran were arrested and subjected to "politically motivated trials, resulting in the issuance of malicious sentences," added the lawyer.

But the most dramatic escalation came after the truce, according to Darwish. Following the UAE's announcement of a "terror cell"—which Darwish dismisses as "a staged fabrication with baseless allegations"—Bahraini authorities conducted a wave of arrests in a single day, targeting more than 40 Shia religious scholars.

Among those detained were seminary lecturers, senior clerics, directors of religious institutions, and the official representatives of the supreme religious authorities in the holy cities of Najaf and Qom.

The targets reveal the scope of the campaign. "By targeting religious seminaries, funeral processions (Mo'wakib), social organizations, and even kindergartens, the authorities seek to dismantle any sphere of independent Shia activity," Darwish pointed out.

The ultimate objective, he added, is to "engineer a new sectarian landscape that serves the state's political interests by stripping religious affairs of the independence guaranteed under international law."

Darwish framed the crackdown as an existential threat. "This campaign represents an existential threat to the entire Shia component of Bahraini society," he highlighted.

One objective of the crackdown, Darwish noted, is retaliation for the Shia community's refusal to support Bahrain's official involvement in the war, specifically the lack of public endorsement for logistical support provided to US military bases during the war against Iran.

Last month, Bahraini authorities revoked the citizenship of 69 nationals, including clerics, social activists, women, men, and even infants. The Interior Ministry accused them of "expressing support for Iran (retaliatory) attacks" against American and Israeli military assets.

Bahrain, home to the US Fifth Naval Fleet, allowed the United States and Israel to use its soil and airspace to launch attacks against Iran during the war that began on February 28 and halted on April 8 with a ceasefire that remains fragile.

Public sentiment in Bahrain runs counter to the government's position, according to Darwish.

"The Bahraini people believe that Iran acted within its legitimate right to self-defense under international humanitarian law," he noted.

Moreover, Bahrainis demand the withdrawal of US military forces from Bahrain and the closure of the US Fifth Fleet, "which is being utilized to launch aggression against a neighboring Muslim country and to sustain political tyranny in the region."

Nationwide protests erupted on Saturday in Sitra, Bilad al-Qadeem, Maqabah, Sanabis, Abu Saiba, and Bani Jamra, with participants condemning the suppression of Shia ceremonies and the arrest of clerics.

Meanwhile, Bahraini scholars have issued an urgent appeal to Islamic authorities worldwide, warning that the arrest campaign seeks to "paralyze Islamic outreach, disrupt the religious infrastructure, and create a spiritual vacuum within society."

The abductions, they said, are part of a pre-planned project to "marginalize, weaken, and dismantle the scientific and social structures" of the Shia community.

The timing of the crackdown is no coincidence, according to the rights lawyer.

"This political escalation coincides with the deepening political and security rapprochement between Bahrain and Israel following the 2020 normalization agreements," he said, referring to the so-called "Abraham Accords" that Bahrain and the UAE inked under US pressure. 

As Bahrain has integrated into a strategic axis coordinating with Israel, Darwish continued, "this campaign of political repression and sectarian persecution against the Shia serves broader US and Israeli interests in the region."

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