WFPIST Condemns Revocation of Sheikh Qassim’s Citizenship in Bahrain

The World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought condemns Al Khalifa’s move to strip Shiite cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim of his Bahraini citizenship, WFPIST’s secretary general announced.

Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency on Friday, Ayatollah Mohsen Araki stressed that such improper measures by the Al Khalifa rulers will backfire and they are not going to achieve their vicious purposes with such decisions.

He also referred to Sheikh Qassim as a cleric of noble blood with his roots in Bahrain, arguing that this is the Al Khalifa family who are aliens, since they launched a military raid on the Persian Gulf country more than a century ago and conquered its territories.

Last week, Bahrain said the citizenship of Sheikh Qassim has been revoked, accusing him of sowing sectarian divisions.

Sheikh Qassim, who is considered the spiritual leader of Bahrain’s Shiite majority, was alleged to have used his position to “serve foreign interests and promote… sectarianism and violence,” the Bahraini ministry said in a statement.

The decision has drawn widespread international condemnation.

It comes days after a regime’s court issued an order earlier suspending the activities of Bahrain’s main opposition bloc, Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, on charges of “terrorism, extremism, and violence”.