Bahrain’s Interior Ministryannouncedon Saturday the arrest of 41 citizens, including multiple Shia religious leaders, over alleged ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The ministry said security services uncovered the alleged network through "investigations, security reports, and previous Public Prosecution cases related toespionage involving foreign entities." The detainees are accused of "espionage involving foreign entities and sympathy with blatant Iranian aggression."
Around30 Shia Muslim clericswereamong the 41 arrested, as the Gulf monarchy intensifies a campaign of raids and arrests predominantly targeting Shia religious figures and seminary teachers in Bahrain.
The arrests mark a new security escalation by Manama and form part of a continued policy of restrictions against clerics in the country. TheBahrain News Agency reported that legal proceedings are now underway against the 41 detainees.
Earlier this week,Bahrainstripped three lawmakersof their seats in parliament after they publicly criticized the monarchy’s crackdownon dissent over its support for the US–Israeli war on Iran:
In a vote in Manama on Thursday, the Bahraini House of Representatives revoked the memberships of Abdulnabi Salman, Mahdi al-Shuwaikh, and Mamdouh al-Saleh. The three lawmakers publicly opposed the monarchy’s move last week torevokethe citizenship of 69 Bahrainis and their families, accusing them of “sympathizing with Iran.”
Bahrain has a majority Shia population but is ruled by the Sunni Al-Khalifa royal family. The kingdom hosts the largest US naval base in the region, home to the US Fifth Fleet.
That decision came less than two weeks after Bahrain revoked the citizenship of69 peopleover alleged support for Iranian retaliatory attacks on the country.
The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy described the move as "dangerous" and a "blatant abuse of power," saying the individuals had not been publicly named and that their legal status remained unclear.
Since the launch of the US-Israeli war on Iran on February 28, Bahrain has escalated a sweeping domestic crackdown tied to alleged support for Tehran and opposition to the country’s western alignments.
Source: ZeroHedge News
