“While the international community has been fervent on the siege of a group of people by armed assailants in several parts of the world, it has kept complete silence over the siege of Diraz region,” Al-Wefaq Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Hussein al-Daihi wrote in his Twitter. “Does the international community have no intention of sending a fact-finding group or aid and rescue teams to Diraz?”
“This siege is the longest punishment in the history of our region for nearly 20,000 civilians,” he said.
Shaikh al-Daihi noted that “what goes on in Diraz is against all the human rights claims of the Al Khalifa regime”, adding “the world needs to put aside its double-standard outlook and adopt a clear and courageous stance toward Diraz region.”
“With a 200-day siege or longer, you cannot restrict and surround the hearts and lives of devoted followers of Shaikh Isa Qassim,” he stressed.
Sheikh Isa Ahmed Qassim, Bahrain's leading Shia cleric and spiritual leader of Al Wefaq, was stripped of his Bahraini nationality by the Al-Khalifa regime on June 20, on charges of using his position to "serve foreign interests" and promote "sectarianism and violence".
The Bahraini people have been sitting out around Isa Qassim’s house in Diraz to voice their protests against the Al-Khalifa’s measure for revoking the Shia cleric of his Bahraini citizenship. The protests were followed by a tight security siege of the region. The Bahrainis have invited internet activists to join their campaign #حصار_الدراز_200 on ending the siege of Diraz region.
MS