RNA - Al-Wadaie had received a notice on Tuesday (August 16, 2016) summoning him for questioning at the southern Hamad Town police station, as part of a widespread campaign launched by the Bahraini authorities against the country's Shia clerics. The authorities have recently arrested and interrogated dozens of shia religious scholars.
Yesterday, a group of UN experts released a statement in which they called on Bahrain to end the persecution of Shia citizens, by arbitrary arrests, summons and prosecution of clerics, activists and religious reciters.
"We are calling on the Government of Bahrain to stop such arbitrary arrests or summons and release all those who have been detained for exercising their rights," stressed the experts. "The authorities should also lift the restrictions on movement including travel bans imposed on different Shia religious leaders and human rights defenders," they added.
A wide range of charges are brought against the Shias including ‘illegal gathering', ‘inciting hatred against the regime', ‘money laundering' and ‘acts of terrorism' in relation to their peaceful gatherings and religious congregations and peaceful expression of their beliefs, views and dissenting opinions, which the experts described as "groundless accusations used to hide a deliberate targeting of Shias in the country."
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