Iranian Speaker's Advisor:

Political Talks Only Way to End Crisis in Bahrain

Rasa - Senior Advisor to the Iranian Parliament Speaker Hossein Amir Abdollahian blasted the Bahraini court for sentencing the prominent Shiite cleric, Sheikh Issa Qassim, to a 1-year suspended prison, stressing that political talks can resolve the crisis in Bahrain.

News ID: 429789

Date: 21 May 2017 - 22:39

RNA - "Ayatollah Issa Qassim does not merely belong to Bahrain and issuing harsh judiciary sentences against this Muslim cleric doesn’t help resolve the internal crisis in Bahrain and will rather make the situation more complicated," Amir Abdollahian said on Sunday.

"If Bahrain is after a political means to resolve its domestic crisis, it should rely on its people and not the foreigners, and fair talks and political negotiation is the only way to come out of the crisis in Bahrain," he added.

Bahrain has been the scene of anti-regime protests on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country in February 2011.

People have been demanding that the al-Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and let a just system representing all Bahrainis be established.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others wounded or detained amid Manama’s crackdown on dissent and widespread discrimination against Bahrain’s Shiite majority.

Qassim, the spiritual leader of Bahrain’s dissolved opposition bloc the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, was stripped of his nationality last June over allegations that he used his position to serve foreign interests and promote sectarianism and violence.

The cleric, who is in his mid-70s, has denied the allegations.

847/940