Bahrain Mirror: Al-Ahed news website made an interview with Al-Wefaq deputy Secretary-General, Sheikh Hussein Al-Daihi, in which he spoke about several files, including the living conditions in Bahrain. He stressed that opening a hole in the crisis wall by the regime requires the halt of security grip, release of detainees, launch of a serious and genuine dialogue with the acting parties, and revealing of information about the king's meeting with Sayed Abdullah Al-Ghuraifi.

According to Sheikh Al-Daihi, the regime has no intention to make reform and didn't respond to any popular and legitimate demands proposed by Sayed Al-Ghuraifi to the king. The recent ministerial amendments are only nominal, he expressed.

Al-Daihi revealed information of the recent meeting between Sayed Al-Ghuraifi and the king, saying "unfortunately, his eminence Sayed Abdullah Al-Ghuraifi carried the concerns of people, their demands, as well as national and calm views to the head of the regime in person and spoke with him clearly. However, the king ignored Sayed Al-Ghuraifi's demands and didn't release detainees. He also didn't ameliorate the country's conditions and didn't meet any of the demands presented by Al-Ghuraifi, which shows the lack of seriousness of this regime and lack of sincerity in the promises it makes."

As for the resumption of Friday prayers after it has been stopped for a long period of time, he stressed that it came after "a decision issued exclusively by Bahrain's leading scholars, not by the regime."

He went on to say that "as for the resumption of Friday prayers, the authorities definitely have nothing to do with it. The Friday prayers resumption came in a decision issued by Bahrain's top scholars, who alone decided to resume them and they are the ones who called for this and the authorities had nothing to do with this decision. The authorities continue to exert pressure and harass worshippers and leaders of prayers. Every week we see dozens of military vehicles surrounding the area in an attempt to send a message of intimidation to worshippers, although it only occurs during Friday prayers. This is the Bahraini regime that falsely claims that it enjoys religious freedoms. 

Regarding the reopening of Al-Tawiya Society, he said, "There are those who think that the return of Al-Tawiya is part of an initiative by the regime or that it is a move by the authorities towards opening up to society, which is not true. The court issued a ruling on November 11, 2019 to reopen the society, but as a result of the authorities' intransigence and control over powers, the reopening of the society, which was supposed to take place 3 years ago, was disrupted. The question here is why the opening of Al-Tawiya Society was disrupted for 3 years?" 

Sheikh Al-Daihi considered the upcoming elections a tool to entrench authoritarianism and perpetuate corruption. He said that the meeting between the Bahraini king and the Qatari Emir did not change anything in the case of Al-Wefaq Secretary-General, Sheikh Ali Salman, and the issue does not need reconciliation with Doha at all.

He explained that "the case of His Eminence Sheikh Ali Salman clearly reflects the reality of the political crisis in Bahrain and the regime's bad behavior, if Sheikh Ali Salman remains alone in prison, this crisis will remain ongoing and exacerbated, as it is the most prominent issue reflecting the injustice against the people of Bahrain."

He described the opposition's body as "solid", referring to the response of all the various forms of the opposition to the call of the great religious authority, Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim, hinting at good news regarding this file.

In this regard, he stressed that "His Eminence Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim is an outstanding leader who has the awareness, insight and experience that enables him to draw a road map that is safe in results and with guaranteed endings, and it is our duty to heed his call without hesitation, because it is a call for goodness, peace, love and a sincere desire to evaluate any slip or error in our work as opposing societies. For our part, we presented an initiative for coordination and consultation and others also had opinions and initiatives. Matters are receiving follow-up and attention and there is good news in this file. We ask Allah for success to achieve the goals Ayatollah Sheikh Qassim drew."

As for the Judaization project in Bahrain, Sheikh Al-Daihi calls every citizen who is loyal to his land to stand against it, noting that the project has serious consequences. He highlighted that the issue of the Jewish neighborhood is very dangerous and is a hostile step towards Bahrain as a homeland and towards the people of Bahrain. 

He warned that "the Zionist expansion began to increase in the basic joints in the structure of the homeland with the cooperation of the main ministries with the Zionist entity in security, labor, training, trade agreements and land ownership in vital locations in the capital. If we stand still and watch these provocative practices of the authorities, Bahrain will turn into another Paleastine, especially with the opening of the space for the naturalization of Israelis to complete the abhorrent naturalization project, which aims at changing the demographics of the country and abolishing the existence of a major component. A serious stand is needed to reject this dangerous incursion and to stop this expansion in Bahrain."

Arabic Version