Iran clerics’ call for armed resistance condemned

Manama : Calls for initiating “armed resistance” against the Bahraini government made by some Iran-based clerics were condemned by a scholar here.

MP Dr. Majeed Al Asfoor yesterday blamed the Iranian government for such malicious calls being made from Iran.

Addressing the weekly session of the House of Representatives, Dr. Al Asfoor, who is also religious adviser and psychotherapist, called upon senior religious scholars of the Shite sect to silence and condemn these calls.

“I am concerned about young Bahraini boys who respond to similar calls being shared in the media and glorify terrorism. It lures and misleads children to get involved in matters bigger than them. Our youth are effected by these calls and respond to them, thinking it’s heroic to fight against the government. This must be stopped,” Dr. Al Asfoor said.The MP’s speech came in response to the recent Fatwa (a ruling on a point of Islamic law given by a recognised authority) of Iran-based clerics, who called upon Bahrainis to “grab their weapons and fight the government” here.

They announced during a public activity held in the Iranian city of Qum that “the movement against the Bahraini government should be escalated to armed resistance”.

Dr. Al Asfoor affirmed that “there are no instructions in the Shite sect that allow utilising military acts to serve political purposes”.He called upon the Iranian government to hold the people behind issuing the fatwa accountable.

“When we say Iranians are interfering in our internal affairs, they deny that. Now these calls for violence are coming from their soil,” Dr. Al Asfoor added.