Bahrainis to rally in support of Saudi activists

People in Bahrain are set to pour into the streets of the Persian Gulf country to voice their solidarity with the anti-regime movement in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

The Bahraini demonstrators will also express their anger over the incarceration of senior Saudi Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who has been accused of “instigating unrest” in Saudi Arabia.

Sheikh Nimr was attacked, injured and arrested by Saudi security forces when he was en route to his house in the Qatif region of Eastern Province on July 8, 2012. The cleric had called for the release of all those detained during the protests against the Al Saud regime and all prisoners of conscience. His arrest sparked protests in the Eastern Province.

Both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have been the scene of anti-regime protest rallies since February 2011.

Saudi protesters mainly take to the streets in Qatif and the town of Awamiyah in the Eastern province. They want the release of political prisoners, freedom of expression as well as an end to widespread discrimination. Activists say there are over 30,000 political prisoners in the kingdom.

People in Bahrain also call on the ruling Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.

In March 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to Bahrain help Manama quash the anti-regime protests. Scores of Bahrainis have been killed and hundreds of others injured and arrested in the Saudi-backed crackdown on the peaceful demonstrations.

Amnesty International has censured the regimes in Manama and Riyadh for their numerous human rights violations and heavy-handed crackdown on dissent.