Bahrain

Our people demand equal citizenship, not sectarian state : Bahrain

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Nearly 40 Shi’a clerics said in a statement released on Tuesday that Shi’a citizens of Bahrain “have always called for citizenship equality… without any discrimination based on ethnicity, color, religion or sect.

”Led by Ayatollah Shaykh Isa Ahmad Qasim, Bahrain’s leading Shi’a cleric and the spiritual leader of the main opposition movement al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, the clerics stated that the people have the right to demand a ruling system on the basis of “a constitution that does not sideline the will of the people.”

The statement said Bahraini people should have “free elections” to elect a parliament that has full powers and is not controlled by “other authorities, and have a say in choosing the government.”

The clerics insisted that their majority community in Bahrain has never sought “a sectarian state… let alone a one-sect state,” while demanding protection for the freedom to practice religious rites.

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