Bahrain Elections Lack Legitimacy: Cleric
Speaking to IQNA, Sheikh Abdullah Daqqaq said the ruling Al Khalifa regime is trying to form a parliament that is fully in line with the policies and objectives of the regime.
The polls are set to be held on November 24 while a large number of religious activists and political opposition figures remain in jail or in exile, he said.
Referring to the ongoing crackdown in Bahrain, the cleric said that in the current conditions, the majority of the people will refuse to cast their ballots.
He also stressed that despite the crackdown and pressures, Bahrainis will remain steadfast in pushing for their legitimate demands.
The Manama regime plans to hold parliamentary elections on November 24, the second ballot since 2011 when mostly Shia protesters took to the streets demanding democracy.
Bahrain, a close ally of the US in the Persian Gulf region, has been witnessing almost daily protests against the ruling Al Khalifa dynasty since early 2011, with Manama using heavy-handed measures in an attempt to crush the demonstrations.
Scores of Bahrainis have been killed and hundreds of others injured and arrested in the ongoing crackdown on the peaceful demonstrations.
Amnesty International and many other international rights organizations have frequently censured the Bahraini regime for the rampant human rights abuses against opposition groups and anti-regime protesters.
Since the 1980s, the ruling Al Khalifa regime has been trying to change the Kingdom’s demographic structure which largely consists of Shias.
Elsewhere in the interview, Sheikh Daqqaq referred to a recent ruling against prominent opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, describing it as an indication of the regime’s fear of the opposition figure.
Earlier this month, Sheikh Ali Salman, opposition al-Wefaq group secretary general, as well as Sheikh Hassan Sultan and Ali Alaswad, members of the same group, were sentenced by a Bahraini court to life in jail.
Sheikh Daqqaq said that they were given the sentences after their calls for boycotting the upcoming elections.
Another reason for sentencing Salman to life in prison on charges of spying for Qatar was Saudi Arabia’s recent failure to get Qatar to mediate between Riyadh and Ankara on the case of murdered Sadui journalist Jamal Khashoggi, he said.
Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi crown prince, was killed and dismembered in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
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