WHEN BAHRAIN announced a decision Monday to strip the citizenship of a leading Shiite cleric, Sheik Isa Qassim, it accused him of “creating an extremist sectarian environment” and claimed he had “encouraged sectarianism and violence.” In fact, Bahrain’s ruling monarchy and government are the ones fomenting division. In recent weeks, they also dissolved the main Shiite opposition group, al-Wefaq, of which Sheik Qassim was the spiritual leader.
These and other repressive measures taken lately are likely to backfire. Bahrain, a Sunni monarchy in the Persian Gulf that hosts the U.S. 5th Fleet, has been cracking heads of the opposition ever since the Arab Spring broke out five years ago and has harshly repressed those who sought a greater political voice for the country’s Shiite majority. The latest actions take the ruling al-Khalifa family still farther down the road of despotism and could trigger new waves of protest. The leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard Corps immediately vowed to stir up an armed revolt.
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