RNA – Ayatollah Sayyed Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, the vice-pesident of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, issued a statement denouncing the actions carried out by the Bahrain’s Al Khalifah regime and against the spiritual leader of the tiny Persian Gulf country’s Shi’ah majority, Ayatollah Isa Qasim, and the country’s people.
On May 23, Bahraini forces raided the village of Diraz, which has been under a military siege for almost a year, and stormed the home of Ayatollah Qasim.
Regime forces killed at least five demonstrators, wounded dozens and arrested over 280 people during the crackdown.
The statement by Ayatollah Hashemi-Shahroudi is as follows:
In the Name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds, and may prayers and peace be upon the Seal of the Messengers, Muhammad, and his progeny.
We condemn the brutal attack and inhumane actions against a group of young people in the village of Diraz and the affront against the house of the great scholar, Ayatollah Isa Ahmad Qasim, which led to the martyrdom or wounding of a large number of them and the family of His Eminence.
Without doubt, such actions only serve the goals of the evil colonial powers in the region and leads to the division and fragmentation of the Islamic ummah.
Therefore, we advise the Bahraini government to avoid any actions which may inflame ethnic and sectarian conflicts and sedition in the near future and we recommend them to enter into the arena of serious negotiations in order to end the crisis that the dear country of Bahrain is currently suffering from.
Mahmoud Hashemi–Shahroudi
May 26, 2017
112/930/271