On Friday, June 3rd, 2011, in the northern village of Diraz, Bahrain, people gathered to listen to Sheikh Issa Qassem, Bahrain’s senior Shiite cleric. Qassem, who called for the U.S.-backed Bahraini monarchy to free political prisoners, said state repression will only deepen differences that will become more complicated every day. The majority of Bahrain’s population are Shia Muslims but the ruling monarchy is Sunni and closely aligned with the United States. The U.S.-allied Bahraini government has brutally suppressed (1, 2) the popular movements of February and March 2011, as predicted by activists in an Al Jazeera video report at that time. Servants of U.S. power are “fearful that a victorious Shia majority in Bahrain could embolden Saudi Arabia’s own Shiite minority in nearby oil-rich Eastern Province.” (Michael Birnbaum / Washington Post)
(AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)
