RNA – “Revoking the nationality of the 77-year old Bahraini cleric is tantamount to his spiritual execution,” Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, the Provisional Friday Prayers Leader of Tehran, said in an address to a huge gathering of worshipers in Tehran on Friday.
The Al Khalifah regime has no right to strip Ayatollah Qasim of his citizenship, he said, adding that the Iranian Foreign Ministry has adopted a strong stance on the issue but should make further efforts.
Manama announced on June 20 that the citizenship of Ayatollah Qasim has been revoked, accusing him of sowing sectarian divisions.
Bahrain, a close ally of the US in the Persian Gulf region, has been witnessing almost daily protests against the ruling Al Khalifah dynasty since early 2011, with Manama using heavy-handed measures in an attempt to crush the demonstrations.
Elsewhere in his Friday prayers sermon, Ayatollah Khatami dismissed as “unfair and cruel” a recent report by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in which he claimed that Iran’s recent missile tests contravene a nuclear deal with world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“The issue of our missile (tests) has nothing to with the UN secretary-general and the JCPOA,” he stressed.
Earlier this month, Reuters claimed it has seen a confidential report by the UN chief that says Iran’s ballistic missile launches “are not consistent with the constructive spirit” of the JCPOA.
Iran has made it clear that test of missiles is an issue relating to defense of its territorial integrity and that none of its missiles are designed to carry nuclear weapons.
The UN Security Council discussed Ban’s report in a meeting on Monday.
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