Iraqi Shia militia leader says Bahraini kingdom at beginning of its end
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi Shia militia leader Hadi al-Amiri condemned the Bahraini kingdom for the recent execution of three people that reportedly included two Shia activists. Amiri claimed the end of the government in the Gulf kingdom would be similar to that of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
The Bahraini kingdom’s action came on Saturday. Among the three executed persons were purported activists Ali al-Arab and Ahmad al-Mullali, who were convicted of crimes involving the use of a firearm to kill a police officer in 2017, in attacks the Bahraini public prosecutor alleged were organized by “leaders” in Iran.
Shia leaders in Iraq have previously accused Manama of using violence to quell Shia-led protests. Like Iraq, the island country has experienced years of tension between its Sunni and Shia populations believed to be stoked by regional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia.
“Today is the beginning of the eternal life of these two beloved young men, and the inevitable beginning of the end of” Bahrain, said Amiri, who leads the Iran-backed Fatah Coalition along with the Badr Organization.
“Their end will be as was the end of all tyrants such as Saddam and [Libyan dictator Muammar) Gaddafi and other traitors of the nation and foreign agents,” he added.
There has been no immediate comment from the Bahraini authorities, but Amiri’s remarks are likely to ignite a new diplomatic crisis between Baghdad and Manama, similar to a previous one triggered by another Shia leader, Muqtada al-Sadr when he called in April for the removal of the rulers of Bahrain.
This followed an earlier incident in December, when former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki expressed his support for the ongoing Shia protests in Bahrain in comments he made during a ceremony marking the opening of an office in Baghdad for the “February 14 Youth Coalition in Bahrain,” considered a “terrorist organization” by Manama.
Amiri and Maliki are part of a single coalition in Iraqi politics, called the Bina Alliance, which also includes leaders of the mostly Shia paramilitary conglomeration of the Hashd al-Shaabi.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany
