Bahrain Mirror: One the tenth anniversary of the February 14 uprising which called for putting an end to Al Khalifa monopoly over power, Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim confirmed that the Bahraini opposition is firm in its stance on radical reform.

Sheikh Qassim said in a speech he delivered in the holy city of Qom, where he is exiled, that both the opposition and regime insist on their stances. "The opposition and its people have a firm stance in the path of achieving the just demands (...). On the other hand, the regime's position is to proceed in torturing, oppressing and persecuting any free voice," he added.

Sheikh Qassim stressed the importance of releasing prisoners of conscience and said that the movement should not end with the release of prisoners only.

The following is a part of his statement:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficial, the Most Merciful, 

Peace be upon our master, Prophet Mohammad and his household! 

Peace be upon you nation of Islam, jihad and resistance. Peace be upon you, the resistant and patient people of Bahrain.

My honorable bothers, gentlemen...Peace be upon you.

Why did the movement erupt?

Under the harshness of the ruling political regime in dealing with the people, its marginalization and negligence of all calls and demands for reform, and amid failure to address the suffocating situation and the blockage of all doors by the state party that would lead to a solution, the popular movement erupted in the form of a massive popular demonstration at the Pearl [Lualua] Roundabout, protesting the devastating situation and demanding a serious change that would put an end to the suffering and marginalization of the people and the monopoly of regime and its arbitrary ways in dealing with its honorable people.

Stemming from the tyrant's actions towards the people, and the fact that the people have no patience for dishonor, and do not accept servitude to anyone other than Allah the Almighty and in the light of the Arab Spring, the popular movement in Bahrain broke out in its peaceful manner, aiming at achieving serious reform that does not stop at the limit of formal, superficial or fragmented solutions, as well as empty promises.

Every people has the right to move and rise up to restore its rights and have its dignity be recognized.

However, the Bahraini regime lost its temper. Neither religion, conscience, nor the international law deterred the regime from having a senseless reaction against the people. As a result, it spilled the blood of innocent people, crowded prisons and crossed the lines of all the taboos. It brought in the unjust Gulf forces to crush the popular movement and totally eliminate it, allowing them to act as they please controlling the fate of the people without a word of opposition.

Nonetheless, neither the utter violence, local combating forces, imported forces and army, intelligence, torture, nor the general terrifying atmosphere could manage to silence the voice of people and put down the opposition.

It has been a decade since our steadfast and patient people have started their uprising. They have been determined to achieve their demands and restore their rights. They are fueled with determination to proceed in their peaceful movement no matter how long it takes them and no matter what the price they have to pay.

Yes, this people will continue their changing movement on the path of reform until they achieve victory.

The movement has never and will never aim at causing division, murder, destruction, corruption and chaos. It will never seek to replace an oppressor with another, or an oppressed with another.

The movement will always aim at achieving reform, correcting the condition in a radical and serious way and restore the relation between the people and the ruling entity to the level of justice and equality and to put an end to the regime's mentality that it has ultimate sovereignty.

The movement in Bahrain aims at achieving a homeland for all people, free from violation of justice, manipulation of public wealth and control of oppression. It aims at achieving a free and clean homeland, which is not a farm of corruption and corruptors, recklessness and reckless people, nor a hotbed of disbelief, debauchery, and immorality, nor an origin of evil on earth.

Two Firm Stances:

It has been a decade since the uprising started, and the opposition has been adamant in its demand for change for the purpose of radical and serious reform, which none has yet been achieved. The opposition is resolute in its determination to continue in this path, albeit long and difficult to be attained.

The stability of the opposition is not limited to a decade, two or three. All the opposition adopt one stance, which is to proceed until achieving victory. This was announced in last year's slogan.

A decade has passed since the uprising and the repressive manner in which the regime deals with the opposition and the people as a whole has not simmered down. Meanwhile, the regime continues mastering its repressive methods, including prison sentences, life imprisonment, execution, displacement, citizenship revocation and raids, as well as all kinds of restrictions and marginalization, restricting freedom of religion and expression.

Both sides, the opposition and the regime, insist on their position. The opposition and its people have a firm stance in the path of achieving the just demands that serve the interest of the whole nation. On the other hand, the regime's position is to proceed in torturing, oppressingband persecuting any free voice.

There is nothing new in the matter. 

There is nothing new in the people's demands. People will not back down until they have their demands met. Besides, there is no leniency in the extreme official state stance which rejects every reform and which is based on increasing restrictions and the policy of abuse and repression.

Meanwhile, the regime exceeded all limits in this movement, not with regards to the rights and dignity of people only, but with challenging all the people, challenging the whole nation, its security, independence and the interest of its present and future with the regime's blatant step represented in the normalization agreement with the Zionist entity. This deepened the gap between the people and the regime.

This enlarged gap distants the solution that would make a breakthrough in the exhausting internal situation of the whole country.

This took place in addition to closing the door to any legitimate guardianship over the Jaffaria Waqf, disrupting the current guardianship and putting the guardianship in the hands of the state authorities. This would put the Shiite community in Bahrain in violation of the provisions of their doctrine.

This is in no way allowed by any policy that respects religious doctrines, or even with only some degree of respect, and can only occur according to a policy that does not care about the religion of the people.

These are two additional marks on the record of the regime's political treatment of the people this year, with the escalation of harsh judicial rulings against political opinion-makers and the rise of the wave of repression practiced against prisoners of the popular movement.

In Bahrain, there are endowments for the Sunni sect and other endowments for the Jaffaria sect. Both of the groups following these sects are people in need.

Waqfs have their legal guardians and have a doctrinal method in appointing the Faqih (Islamic law jurist) in accordance with the provisions of the doctrine, and there is no change in the rule of Sharia in all of Islam.

We are speaking about the Jaffaria Waqf. However, the noble Sunni Waqf has its own legitimate side, which has the priority to speak about it.

The official body is responsible for preventing any encroachment against waqfs, which is the function of the Waqf.

Remaining on the Path

The popular movement has a firm line that the opposition must abide by and not exceed, which is that it has been established for the unity of the nation and not its division, and the respect of human life, and maintaining all other rights given by God Almighty.

This movement has a constant line of reform and not corruption. It doesn't adopt terrorism, does not deliberately involve society in the cycle of violence, does not violate any rights, does not violate the right of values, does not follow falsehood under the pretext of championing the truth, does not forget the matter of human dignity, does not follow the path of revenge, does not compromise bybbargaining, which is not acceptable by religion, and in which there is a betrayal of rights and the people.

This is the line that must remain at all the opposition symbols and masses in every course of movement, its turns, and its consequences.

When does this Movement Stop?

The movement was launched for the goal of reforming the situation of the country, life, dignity and all human rights. As long as this goal is still not met or is neglected by the ruling system, the movement shall continue and will not stop.

An uprising that lasts for a decade should never end with the release of prisoners over which they were imprisoned, then stop for a year or two, and erupt to end with the same result. This absurdity should not be committed by a people or a nation.

It is true that the movement's path is long and difficult and that its difficulties are accumulating and its disasters are increasing. Even though the movement has caused great losses, we should not retreat or make it a failing movement.

The uprising should only stop when victory is achieved and its victory shall be reform and nothing else.

The day the reform movement was launched, it began to realize that its path would be long and that the troubles of this road would be enormous as well as its sacrifices.

If bringing the uprising to a halt was confined to fatigue, then it was a shame to even start it, because fatigue is a tax that would be inevitably paid.

The opposition today and its people are more determined to proceed in this path until victory is achieved.

A decade of stability until victory, and victory here is in reaching the goals that are in the category of reform for the whole country and for the benefit of all.

Arabic Version