Sheikh Qassem’s Home Raided in Bahrain:
Arab Monarchs Run Amok After Trump Visit
MANAMA (Dispatches) -- Bahrain police on Tuesday opened fire on protesters, injuring many people and killing one, before raiding the home of the country's leading Shia cleric.
Witnesses said there were multiple civilians wounded in the raid targeting the months-long sit-in in Diraz, the hometown of cleric Isa Qassem.
Although the cleric was not among those detained, the operation is set to escalate tensions, days after U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington's relationship with the kingdom, long strained over its human rights record, would improve.
Police opened fire at demonstrators, reports said, before entering the home of Qassem and arresting more than 50 people.
The Britain-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy reported the "tragic death of a peaceful protester in the crackdown".
Activist Ebtasam Alsaegh, from the neighboring village of Bani Jamra, told Reuters she could hear police firing gunshots.
"The situation is terrifying ... It's making people really angry and the young men are taking to the streets. The mosque speakers are calling out 'God is Great', urging people to come out and protect Sheikh Qassem," she said by phone.
Other pictures posted by activists showed at least 10 armored police cars lining up, officers shooting tear gas canisters and masked protesters erecting road blocks with planks and cinder blocks.
Qassem was sentenced on Sunday to a suspended one-year jail term for illegal fundraising and money laundering. The charges emanate from the collection of an Islamic donation called Khums, which in Shia Islam is collected and spent by a senior cleric in the interests of the needy.
Police have besieged Qassem's hometown of Diraz for months, tightly controlling access. He could be deported at any time after authorities stripped him of his citizenship last June over accusations that he fueled extremism. His supporters deny the allegations and called his trial politically motivated.
Human Rights Watch condemned the Diraz operation as a crackdown on freedom of expression.
"Yet again the architects of bloody destabilizing violence in Bahrain appear to be the Al Khalifa government, and the timing of this operation - two days after King Hamad's convivial meeting with President Trump - can hardly be a coincidence," the group said in a statement.
Despite repeated international calls, Bahrain's rulers have made no concessions to the opposition and have intensified a crackdown on critics.
People took part in 2011 Arab Spring protests for greater rights from the monarchy of Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet and an under-construction British naval base. Bahrain put down the protests with the help of forces from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Since then, Bahrain has seen almost daily unrest and the crackdown on dissent has raised the stakes, with local militant groups claiming some attacks.
Meanwhile, activists have been imprisoned or forced into exile. Independent news gathering on the island also has grown more difficult, with the government refusing to accredit journalists and others .
Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa met with Trump during a Sunday summit in Saudi Arabia. Already, Trump's administration had approved a multibillion-dollar sale of F-16 fighter jets to Bahrain without the human rights conditions imposed by the State Department under President Barack Obama.
"Our countries have a wonderful relationship together but there has been a little strain but there won't be strain with this administration," Trump said Sunday.
Activists and rights group warn Trump's embrace of Bahrain only will fuel the crackdown.
Human rights activists said Trump’s rhetoric against Iran and his strong display of support for Persian Gulf states may have emboldened Bahrain.
"The Bahraini security forces’ operation in Diraz, which appears to have already claimed at least one life, looks like a strategic show of strength aimed at ending a peaceful and legitimate protest,” said Nicholas McGeehan of Human Rights Watch.
Last month, the kingdom reintroduced military trials for civilians who "threaten state security”, reversing one of the reforms it introduced under international pressure in the wake of the 2011 uprising.
In Saudi Arabia, security forces have poured into the Shia city of Awamiyeh, razing homes under a tough security crackdown under the pretext of reconstruction.
Witnesses said there were multiple civilians wounded in the raid targeting the months-long sit-in in Diraz, the hometown of cleric Isa Qassem.
Although the cleric was not among those detained, the operation is set to escalate tensions, days after U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington's relationship with the kingdom, long strained over its human rights record, would improve.
Police opened fire at demonstrators, reports said, before entering the home of Qassem and arresting more than 50 people.
The Britain-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy reported the "tragic death of a peaceful protester in the crackdown".
Activist Ebtasam Alsaegh, from the neighboring village of Bani Jamra, told Reuters she could hear police firing gunshots.
"The situation is terrifying ... It's making people really angry and the young men are taking to the streets. The mosque speakers are calling out 'God is Great', urging people to come out and protect Sheikh Qassem," she said by phone.
Other pictures posted by activists showed at least 10 armored police cars lining up, officers shooting tear gas canisters and masked protesters erecting road blocks with planks and cinder blocks.
Qassem was sentenced on Sunday to a suspended one-year jail term for illegal fundraising and money laundering. The charges emanate from the collection of an Islamic donation called Khums, which in Shia Islam is collected and spent by a senior cleric in the interests of the needy.
Police have besieged Qassem's hometown of Diraz for months, tightly controlling access. He could be deported at any time after authorities stripped him of his citizenship last June over accusations that he fueled extremism. His supporters deny the allegations and called his trial politically motivated.
Human Rights Watch condemned the Diraz operation as a crackdown on freedom of expression.
"Yet again the architects of bloody destabilizing violence in Bahrain appear to be the Al Khalifa government, and the timing of this operation - two days after King Hamad's convivial meeting with President Trump - can hardly be a coincidence," the group said in a statement.
Despite repeated international calls, Bahrain's rulers have made no concessions to the opposition and have intensified a crackdown on critics.
People took part in 2011 Arab Spring protests for greater rights from the monarchy of Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet and an under-construction British naval base. Bahrain put down the protests with the help of forces from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Since then, Bahrain has seen almost daily unrest and the crackdown on dissent has raised the stakes, with local militant groups claiming some attacks.
Meanwhile, activists have been imprisoned or forced into exile. Independent news gathering on the island also has grown more difficult, with the government refusing to accredit journalists and others .
Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa met with Trump during a Sunday summit in Saudi Arabia. Already, Trump's administration had approved a multibillion-dollar sale of F-16 fighter jets to Bahrain without the human rights conditions imposed by the State Department under President Barack Obama.
"Our countries have a wonderful relationship together but there has been a little strain but there won't be strain with this administration," Trump said Sunday.
Activists and rights group warn Trump's embrace of Bahrain only will fuel the crackdown.
Human rights activists said Trump’s rhetoric against Iran and his strong display of support for Persian Gulf states may have emboldened Bahrain.
"The Bahraini security forces’ operation in Diraz, which appears to have already claimed at least one life, looks like a strategic show of strength aimed at ending a peaceful and legitimate protest,” said Nicholas McGeehan of Human Rights Watch.
Last month, the kingdom reintroduced military trials for civilians who "threaten state security”, reversing one of the reforms it introduced under international pressure in the wake of the 2011 uprising.
In Saudi Arabia, security forces have poured into the Shia city of Awamiyeh, razing homes under a tough security crackdown under the pretext of reconstruction.