‘Father’ of Shiite democracy protests in Bahrain dies Mon Dec 18, 9:13 AM ET
Sheikh Abdul Amir al-Jamri, a Shiite cleric who led pro-democracy protests in Bahrain in the 1990s, has died after a long illness.
“(Jamri) died this morning aged 69 after a long period of battling illness,” Mansur al-Jamri, a former opposition spokesman and now newspaper editor, told AFP on Monday.
The cleric, who had been bedridden since suffering a stroke in April 2002, was mourned by the opposition Islamic National Accord Association (INAA), the main political formation of Bahrain’s Shiite majority, as “the father of the uprising of dignity in the 1990s.”
‘Father’ of Shiite democracy protests in Bahrain dies Mon Dec 18, 9:13 AM ET
Sheikh Abdul Amir al-Jamri, a Shiite cleric who led pro-democracy protests in Bahrain in the 1990s, has died after a long illness.
“(Jamri) died this morning aged 69 after a long period of battling illness,” Mansur al-Jamri, a former opposition spokesman and now newspaper editor, told AFP on Monday.
The cleric, who had been bedridden since suffering a stroke in April 2002, was mourned by the opposition Islamic National Accord Association (INAA), the main political formation of Bahrain’s Shiite majority, as “the father of the uprising of dignity in the 1990s.”
Jamri, a graduate of the Shiite seat of learning in the Iraqi city of Najaf, led demands in the early 1990s for the restoration of the elected parliament which was scrapped in 1975 by the government of the Sunni-ruled Gulf island state.
Jamri, who sat on the short-lived parliament elected in 1973, joined leftist and Sunni Islamist figures in 1992 in a petition demanding the reinstatement of the legislature, which was followed two years later by a wider popular petition.
He largely orchestrated subsequent Shiite-led protests to press for the reinstatement of parliament, the return of political exiles and a fairer distribution of economic resources.
At least 38 people died during the anti-government unrest between 1994 and 1999, which saw Jamri jailed twice — from April to September 1995 and again in January 1996, when he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined the equivalent of 40 million dollars.
Jamri was released in mid-1999 after King Hamad ascended the throne but remained under house arrest until February 2001. He underwent lengthy medical treatment in Germany after suffering his stroke.
Hamad, who initially ruled as emir, launched a process of political reform which saw Bahrainis approve a national charter in February 2001.
In February 2002, Bahrain became a kingdom ruled by a constitutional monarchy and the first post-reforms legislative polls were held in October that year.
The 2002 elections were boycotted by the Shiite-led opposition in protest at the splitting of legislative power between the elected chamber and a consultative council appointed by the king.
But most of the opposition took part in new parliamentary elections held in November and early December and in which the INAA grabbed a stunning 17 seats out of 40.
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