Bahrain’s Shiites protest comments by Sunni lawmaker
The Associated Press
Saturday, January 27, 2007
MANAMA, Bahrain
Bahrain’s Shiites demanded an apology on Saturday from a leading Sunni lawmaker in the tiny Arab kingdom who they say falsely accused them of storing arms in Shiite mosques.
Sameera Rajab, a Baathist lawmaker in Bahrain parliament’s upper house and also a columnist in the pro-government daily Akhbar Alkhaleej, has wrongfully contended that the Shiites were hoarding weapons in mosques in preparation for the holy Ashura festival, the Shiites said.
We demand a “clear apology from the writer for damaging the honor of the (Shiite) community,” read a paid advertisement in the independent Al-Wasat by the association of 150 Shiite mosques in Bahrain.
Bahrain’s Shiites protest comments by Sunni lawmaker
The Associated Press
Saturday, January 27, 2007
MANAMA, Bahrain
Bahrain’s Shiites demanded an apology on Saturday from a leading Sunni lawmaker in the tiny Arab kingdom who they say falsely accused them of storing arms in Shiite mosques.
Sameera Rajab, a Baathist lawmaker in Bahrain parliament’s upper house and also a columnist in the pro-government daily Akhbar Alkhaleej, has wrongfully contended that the Shiites were hoarding weapons in mosques in preparation for the holy Ashura festival, the Shiites said.
We demand a “clear apology from the writer for damaging the honor of the (Shiite) community,” read a paid advertisement in the independent Al-Wasat by the association of 150 Shiite mosques in Bahrain.
The advertisement warned that Rajab’s accusations could have an “impact on civic peace.”
A spokesman for one of the Shiite mosques, Radwan al-Mosawi, told The Associated Press that the Shiites were “angered” by Rajab, who during a seminar in the city of Muharaq claimed that “our halls are being used as storages for weapons.”
Al-Mosawi also cited Rajab’s past columns which he said extolled the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and insulted the highest Shiite cleric authority in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
Such comments can easily be “taken to reflect the government position, which worries many people in Bahrain,” al-Mosawi said.
Shiites amount to more than 60 percent of Bahrain’s 700,000 people and have long complained they are squeezed out of power by the Sunni monarchy.
On Ashura, the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic lunar calendar, Shiites mourn the 7th century death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Imam Hussein. The death led to the split in Islam between the Shiite and Sunni sects.
The day, which this year falls on Tuesday, is key in the Shiite’s spiritual calendar but has in the past been marred with outbreaks of Shiite-Sunni violence across the Muslim world.
