Hawzah News Agency- According to a report by the Bahraini news outlet Mer'at al-Bahrain, court proceedings lasting up to thirteen hours have raised fundamental questions about whether Bahrain's judiciary is prosecuting individuals or seeking to restrict the religious identity and eliminate the religious expressions of a large segment of its society.
Bahraini writer Zainab Ali, in an article, stated that one should not be surprised if the trial of religious scholars extends beyond half a day—thirteen hours—especially when the case, as one Bahraini lawyer described it, does not appear to be a trial of individuals but rather a trial of a faith and a segment of society whose presence authorities seek to limit and whose expressions they aim to diminish in public life.
She added that a review of measures taken by Bahraini authorities in the recent period shows this characterization is no exaggeration. The matter is no longer confined to arresting individuals or trying them in specific cases; it has extended to preachers, eulogists, mosque imams, and heads of religious centers and Hussainiyas, as well as to Shia religious rites, endowments, and public expressions of faith.
These measures did not emerge suddenly. Signs of this trajectory began appearing more visibly in late September 2024, with the circle of prosecution expanding to include various groups, institutions, and religious practices. Less than a day after the announcement of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's martyrdom in late September 2024, the government initiated measures and threats targeting a number of preachers, eulogists, mosque imams, and heads of religious centers.
In the following period, arrests occurred in succession, encompassing many citizens, before the situation entered a broader phase on May 9 of last year, when arrest orders were issued for more than forty clerics, including prominent scholars, missionaries, and seminary instructors.
A notable aspect of these cases is that the charges brought in some instances do not appear linked to specific acts, but rather to religious speech, beliefs, or rites. This raises the central question: Are these individuals being held accountable for actions they have committed, or has their religious affiliation and faith-related activity become the primary motive for prosecution and trial?
The issue extends beyond arrests and trials. Legal institutions have reported disrespectful treatment of religious scholars inside courtrooms. There have also been accounts of statements being signed under pressure, with threats extending to sexual assault. If proven true, such measures are deeply dangerous and would no longer represent mere disagreements over legal procedures, but would raise serious questions about respect for fair trial guarantees and the rights of defendants, demanding an independent and transparent investigation.
Meanwhile, the controversy has spread to religious endowments and properties, with measures and decisions raising serious concerns about the future of endowments belonging to religious centers and Hussainiyas. These actions coincided with other restrictions on religious expressions, including bans on Hussaini processions, the silencing of external loudspeakers at religious centers, and travel bans preventing followers of the Shia faith from visiting holy sites in Iraq and Iran.
Individually, each of these measures might appear justifiable from a security or legal perspective. But the problem emerges when all of them are placed within a single framework: arrests, trials, pressure on preachers and eulogists, restrictions on religious centers and processions, measures affecting endowments, and constraints on religious rites collectively.
This raises a question beyond the prosecution and detention of any single cleric or preacher: Are we facing limited security and legal measures, or is there a systematic path targeting the religious identity and deeply rooted practices of Bahraini society?
The most dangerous aspect is not the detention of a particular cleric, preacher, or eulogist, but that religious practice itself has become a source of suspicion, rites have come under scrutiny, clerics find themselves pursued for their sermons or affiliations, and measures extend to religious centers and their endowments.
Defending these rights does not mean requesting privilege for one faith over another. It means defending a fundamental right of every citizen to practice their beliefs and religious rites freely and safely. A state that respects its citizens does not turn belief into grounds for punishment, does not criminalize the performance of religious rites, and does not treat a significant segment of its society as a problem to be eliminated.
When clerics, preachers, eulogists, missionaries, religious centers, processions, and rites all fall within the circle of targeting or restriction, the urgent question becomes: Is the objective to hold individuals accountable for specific actions through fair and transparent trials, or is there a broader path aimed at weakening the presence of an entire faith and reducing its expressions in public life?
If the former is the case, then fair and transparent trials serve as the final arbiter, with evidence determining responsibility. But if events prove the existence of systematic discrimination based on religious affiliation, or the targeting of peaceful practices and rites, then the matter transcends individual judicial cases. It becomes a question of rights and freedoms—and the fundamental right to practice one's faith without fear, threat, or humiliation.
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