Cleric Lashes Out at Suppression of Bahraini People

Tehran’s provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati lambasted the crimes committed by the Saudi forces against the Bahraini people, and expressed confidence about the victory of people over oppressive regimes in the region.

“The Saudis — who neither fired a single shot at the Zionist regime [of Israel’s troops] during their evil acts, nor did they send a single soldier to stop this regime — now have come to Bahrain and Yemen to massacre people of these countries,” Ayatollah Jannati stated, addressing a large congregation gathered at Tehran University campus for the weekly prayers.

“There will come a day when the people in the region and even the people of Saudi Arabia strangle the oppressive regional rulers,” Ayatollah Jannati added.

Ayatollah Jannati further said enemy can not withstand the Islamic awakening movement in the region.

“People in Muslim countries have awakened and this awakening is Islamic [in nature] because its symbol is the Friday Prayers,” Ayatollah Jannati said on Friday, referring to the demonstrations held in Arab countries after the weekly prayers.

“People in Muslim countries argue that they do not accept the repression and dictatorship of non-Islamic regimes and will not give in to the US,” he concluded.

In recent months, a wave of revolutions and anti-government uprisings has been sweeping the Arab world.

In January, a revolution in Tunisia ended the 23-year ruling of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

In February, another Arab revolution led to the ouster of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak after three decades of his authoritarian rule.

Other revolutions are erupting in Libya, Yemen and Bahrain, while other anti-government unrests have swept Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman, Kuwait and Algeria.