The Status of Bahrain: Nibha’s Oral Statement

NCF Research Officer Nibha Rao Kondapalli delivers an oral intervention to the United Nations Human Rights Council 52nd session, Item 6. Nibha addresses the United Nations in context of Kingdom of Bahrain for the need of reconciliation with Ayatollah Isa Qassim as a gesture of goodwill.

Transcript:

The Next Century Foundation urges the Kingdom of Bahrain to reconcile with Ayatollah Isa Qassim as a gesture of goodwill in order to resolve the wider religious tensions within the nation.

In June 2016, the government of Bahrain stripped Ayatollah Isa Qassim and his family of their nationality and rendered them stateless. Members of the Shiite community peacefully protesting against the government’s decision outside his home in Duraz were also subjected to lethal force. The law enforcement officers responsible are yet to be held accountable for an event that, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, was considered one of the “deadliest” operations since Bahrain’s uprising in 2011. 

Ayatollah Isa Qassim is considered one of Shia Islam’s foremost clerics. Consequently, he is held in extremely high regard by the people of Bahrain.  

The Next Century Foundation implores the Kingdom of Bahrain to restore Ayatollah Isa Qassim’s nationality and welcome him home. The Kingdom could also encourage him by telling him that he would have access to proper medical treatment in Bahrain. The move would rebuild Shiite citizens’ belief in the government and pave the road for a peaceful resolution of the religious conflicts that have caused so much tension in the island nation.