Dubai: A Bahrain court sentenced a prominent Shiite cleric and two others to one-year suspended prison sentence on Sunday and seized their assets.
Shaikh Eisa Qasim faced charges of money laundering and fuelling extremism in Bahrain. Authorities stripped Qasim of his citizenship last June, sparking fears his trial would see him deported from the country. The money laundering case revolves around a Shiite tax known as “Khums” (One fifth) collected by a senior religious figure whom individuals follow.
It arose after investigators discovered more than $10 million in an account held by Qasim. The prosecution added that other holdings were in real estate. Supporters said the funds were part of a Shiite tradition that allowed senior figures to collect the tax and spend it in the interest of ordinary Muslims.
The public prosecution advocate general on Sunday said the court also imposed a fine of 100,000 Bahraini dinars for each of the defendants and the confiscation of the seized assets related to the case.
The public prosecution will undertake the legal measures to enforce the verdicts once they are final and will then enforce the rulings, including the confiscation of the seized assets, the advocate general said.
They will be placed under the disposal of the relevant ministry legally tasked with distributing them for charity and humanitarian purposes in the related areas under the supervision of a judicial Sharia committee, he added.
In his statement, the advocate general said the public prosecution was looking into the court verdicts to determine whether it would file an appeal.
Bahraini officials last year vowed determination in going ahead with decisions “aimed to maintain the country’s security, protect its citizens and residents and continue with the development process.”
The interior ministry later in June said Qasim’s citizenship was revoked after he “played a major role in creating an extremist sectarian environment and worked on dividing the society alongside sects and in accordance with subordination to his orders.”
Reactions ranged from full support both in Bahrain and abroad, mainly from the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Saudi Arabia and Morocco, to calls to reverse the decisions, mainly from Iran.
Angry reactions to the measures included threats from Qasim Sulaimani, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force who said Bahrain and the region would be set ablaze.
But Bahraini officials dismissed the threats and explained that the measures were needed “to rectify the political process, protect the nation and safeguard stability and security.”
“Bahrain is acting within an international framework in its war on terrorism,” Prime Minister Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa said during a working meeting. “The measures taken aim to prevent foreign interference that wants to wreak havoc and to spread terrorism. No government in the world can tolerate terrorising its people or tampering with their safety.”
Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, said the decision stemmed from “keenness on protecting the security of the homeland and the gains of its people and on preventing the country from descending into chaos as it has happened to some countries in the region.”
“All procedures were implemented according to the law and followed many violations committed by people who were involved in practices that pose a threat to the interests of the homeland and its security and open the door to violence, extremism and terrorism that risk to considerably damage the values of democracy and human rights,” he told diplomats based in Bahrain. “No state keen on the well-being of its citizens and on a secure and prosperous future for them would tolerate such risks and threats.”
Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid Bin Abdullah Al Khalifa said the ministry would carry on taking the necessary measures against lawbreakers.
“Now, it is time for unity and cohesion, and there is no room for sowing divide or extremism,” Shaikh Rashid said. “Citizenship entails rights and duties that everyone should take into account. No one is above the law or beyond accountability. The security of the kingdom and the safety of its people top all priorities.”
The minister told the parliament that ministry embraced a zero-tolerance policy towards anyone breaching the constitution and the law, causing harm to Bahrain’s sects, and targeting the social fabric and the unity of the people of Bahrain.
Parliament Speaker Ahmad Al Mulla said the parliament supported the measures taken by the government “to safeguard the reforms, prevent the subversion of the security and stability of the homeland, defend the rights of the citizens and promote the rule of law.”
