Hawzah News Agency- Sheikh Qassim is set to appear before a court on Thursday, September 15, over charges of promoting sectarianism and violence. He has denied all charges.

Bahraini authorities revoked Sheikh Qassim’s citizenship in late June. They later dissolved the main opposition bloc, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, as well as the Islamic Enlightenment Institution, founded by the 79-year-old cleric, besides another opposition movement, the al-Risala Islamic Association.

  22rights groups call for Rajab’s release 

Also on Wednesday, 22 human rights groups wrote to 50 countries calling on them to pressure Bahrain into releasing prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab.

The rights groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, called on the 50 states to “speak out on Bahrain’s continued misuse of the judicial system to harass and silence human rights defenders.”

All of the countries who were written to have been signatories to past UN statements censuring Manama’s human rights violations.

While addressing the 33rd Human Rights Council on Tuesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein also raised concerns over the Al Khalifah regime’s human rights record.

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