One man shot after Bahrain police raid

Bahraini police carried out a dawn raid today against supporters of a prominent Shia cleric, during which one man was shot and wounded, according to local witnesses. The raid took place after supporters of Shaikh Isa Qassim staged a sit-in in Diraz, west of the capital Manama; security forces intervened.

A 21-year-old man was hospitalised when he was shot in the head after the raid, according to human rights campaigners. Dozens of residents later staged a protest chanting slogans hostile to the authorities, reported the eyewitnesses.

Qassim is a well-respected cleric among the Shia in Bahrain and his treatment by the authorities has repeatedly drawn rebukes for the kingdom’s Sunni-led government. The cleric is accused regularly of sowing sectarian divisions in the kingdom and is accused by many officials of being a puppet of the Iranian regime.

Having been put on trial for money-laundering last June, Qassim faces expulsion from the country. The authorities revoked his citizenship in May for fomenting violence and having alleged ties to foreign powers, an apparent reference to Iran.