Opposition Leader: Bahraini Nation Wants to Overthrow Al-Khalifa

A prominent Bahraini opposition leader underlined heightened unrests and protests in the country, and said people in the tiny Persian Gulf island state are strongly resolved to topple the Saudi-backed al-Khalifa regime.

“Crisis in the country has deepened by the al-Khalifa regime’s crack down of the Bahraini nation’s protests as well as its torturing and killing of the protestors,” Sheikh Jafar al-Rabenti, a leader of Bahrain’s opposition Wafa Islamic Party, told FNA on Monday.

He underlined that as the crisis in Bahrain deepens, the nation’s desire and demand for overthrowing the al-Khalifa dynasty grows.

Rabenti also referred to the US role in exacerbating the crisis in Bahrain, and said the Saudi forces attacked Bahrain with the US green light to suppress the Bahraini people who stage peaceful protests to make the government meet their demands.

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February 2011, calling for an end to the al-Khalifa dynasty.

Violence against the defenseless people escalated after a Saudi-led conglomerate of police, security and military forces from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar – were dispatched to the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom on March 2011, to help Manama crack down on peaceful protestors.

So far, hundreds of protesters have been killed, hundreds more have gone missing and thousands of others have been injured.

Late last month, Angry Bahrainis took to the streets in protest against a court decision to adjourn the trial of Sheikh Ali Salman, the secretary-general of the main opposition bloc al-Wefaq, and the extension of his detention.

Sheikh Salman was to be tried in April, but authorities said his trial has been adjourned until May 20. This was the second time Salman’s trial had been put to a later date. In late March, a Bahraini court adjourned Salman’s trial until April 22 and extended his remand.

The angry protesters called for the immediate release of Sheikh Salman as well as other political prisoners.

Back in December 2014, Salman was arrested on charges of seeking regime change and collaborating with foreign powers. He has strongly denied the allegations.

His arrest has triggered condemnation inside and outside Bahrain, with leaders, governments and international organizations across the world calling for his immediate release.