Bahrain detains 20 figures including 5 Shia scholars amid crackdown

Bahraini security forces raided the homes of five Shia scholars on Wednesday without providing any reason and took them to an unknown location, according to a report by Press TV. The scholars identified are Sayyid Yasin Mousavi, Sheikh Ali al-Mustarishd, Sheikh Ja'far Ashour, Sheikh Nazir Malik, and Sheikh Mahmoud Taheri. Additionally, 15 other individuals, including eulogists, Qur'an reciters, and cultural and religious figures, were abducted across the kingdom.

With these arrests, the total number of Bahraini scholars detained since the beginning of the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran has reached 58. Fifty-six were kidnapped by the Al Khalifah regime forces, while two others were apprehended in the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, the Al Khalifah regime has issued a new decree banning Shia Muslims from traveling to Iraq and Iran for pilgrimages and religious rituals. This measure comes ahead of Muharram mourning ceremonies commemorating the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (AS) and his companions in the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD.

In a related development, Bahraini intelligence agents transferred Hajj Mehdi Sehwan, a reciter, from the Hawdh al-Jaf detention center to an unknown location without informing his family or lawyer. Opposition sources said the abductions mark a new escalation in the regime's sectarian violence against Shia Muslims, particularly after the US-Israeli onslaught against Iran and the Bahraini people's opposition to American military bases on their soil, from which attacks on Iran were launched. The Bahraini people have also protested against normalization of relations between Manama and Tel Aviv.

The Al Khalifah regime forces have abducted hundreds of Bahraini citizens on charges of spying for Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and forming subversive cells affiliated with Lebanon's Hezbollah. Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, launched a massive repression campaign against Shia Muslims after the US and Israel began their war of aggression against Iran in late February.

Resistance groups and political activists in Bahrain have condemned the abductions and called for the immediate release of the scholars and an end to illegal actions against Shias. On May 15, the Ahlul Bayt (AS) World Assembly condemned the Manama regime's decision to revoke citizenship of 69 citizens, abduct prominent scholars, and annul membership of three parliament members. According to Mehr News, these developments highlight the ongoing crackdown.