Al Khalifah’s demise looming on the horizon: Iran speaker

Iran’s Parliament (Majlis) speaker says the recent intensification of a crackdown on Shia Muslims in Bahrain signals the looming demise of the Al Khalifah regime.

Ali Larijani on Tuesday repudiated the Bahraini regime’s decision to strip prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim of his citizenship as “immature” and “adventurist,” which reflected the political crisis in the tiny Persian Gulf island.

“These measures are a sign that a regime that threatens its prominent figures with revoking their citizenship is drawing its last breaths,” the speaker told a parliament session.
The decision is only the latest in a string of “inhumane” measures that include repressing political dissent, manipulating Shia religious funds, and killing Bahraini civilians, Larijani added.

Meanwhile, 251 Iranian lawmakers issued a statement, condemning the decision as well as the intentional community’s silence toward it.

“What does this deadly silence in the face of flagrant violation of international law by the ruling reactionary regime in Bahrain mean?” they said in a statement.

“Have the rulers of this Islamic state thought about the dangerous and unpredictable consequences of this unwise move?” they added.

Manama stripped Sheikh Qassim of his citizenship on Monday, accusing him of sowing “sectarianism and violence.”

The decision has raised fears of a further showdown between protesters and security forces in the kingdom which is already the scene of regular protests.

The move, Larijani said, dashes all hopes for a political solution to the crisis in Bahrain and “encourages the repressed people who have been deprived of their basic rights into revolt.”c