Bahrain protests continue as elections near

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
9 Nov 2022 21:13
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Bahrainis protest to denounce upcoming elections and stand up for the rights of political prisoners.

Bahrain witnesses further protests denouncing the upcoming elections (Archive/Getty Images)

Bahrainis organized demonstrations, again, to denounce and abstain from what they view as fraudulent parliamentary elections scheduled for next week.

Online videos depicted demonstrators marching to the streets protesting the November 12 elections in Saar, a residential town west of Manama, and Sanabis, a village on the capital's outskirts.

Protesters demonstrated in solidarity with citizens that were detained for exercising their right to free expression in Bahraini jails.

They were holding pictures of Sheikh Ali Salman, the imprisoned opposition leader, and Sheikh Isa Qassim, the most renowned Shiite cleric in Bahrain.

Additionally, they carried signs with the words "boycott election," "your vote would upset martyrs," and "boycotting elections is a religious duty."

Bahraini protestors stage rallies almost every day to express their opposition to the Al Khalifa dictatorship's oppressive policies, despite the harsh limitations enforced by the regime.

Earlier, on November 6, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Bahraini political party Al-Wefaq, Sheikh Hussain Al-Daihi, announced that his party is boycotting the general elections in Bahrain.

The reasons justifying the boycott are diverse but mainly concern the failure to implement a crucial reform, ongoing political repression in the country, and authorizing the zionist entity to meddle with the country's domestic affairs.

The remarks were delivered during a press conference in which Sheikh Al-Daihi said Bahrainis have no power or representation in legislation and legislative processes.

According to the Sheikh, the core issue is that Bahrainis are deprived of a legal state by a small group of elites that carry out most decision-making, manage public wealth and security, and deprive the people of all their rights.

He further said that Bahrainis are continuing to pay a heavy price for their freedoms by getting killed, imprisoned, displaced, dishonored, denaturalized, their mosques demolished, their basic rights infringed on, and the list goes on.