Hussein Nuh described the detention of Mohammad Sanqur is a disgrace for the Al Khalifa regime that has launched a new wave of attacks on the country’s Shia community.

Sanqur, who is the prayer leader of the Imam Sadiq (AS) Mosque in Al-Diraz region, was summoned and arrested after criticizing the Israeli regime in his Friday prayer sermons.

The move has drawn anger in the Bahraini society, with people holding protest rallies in some regions, Al-Ahed News reported.

Nuh described the detention as illegal and said such moves are aimed at intimidating the citizens.

This prominent cleric only used his legitimate right of freedom of speech, Nuh said.

He referred to the new attacks on opposition figures and those opposed to normalization of ties with the Zionist regime and said normalization is a crime.

Bahraini political groups have also condemned the arrest, describing it as a sign of the regime’s moral and political decline.

Bahrainis have repeatedly expressed their opposition to the normalization of ties with the Israeli regime by holding demonstrations.

Bahrain’s main opposition group al-Wefaq and the kingdom’s top cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim have also repeatedly condemned the normalization move made by the al-Khalifa dynasty.

Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates signed US-brokered normalization agreements with Israel in an event in Washington in September 2020.

Sudan and Morocco followed suit later in the year and inked similar US-brokered normalization deals with the occupying regime.

The move sparked widespread condemnations from the Palestinians as well as nations and human rights advocates across the globe, especially within the Muslim world.

Palestinians slammed the deals as a treacherous “stab in the back” and a betrayal of their cause against the decades-long Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Palestinians are seeking an independent state in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip with East al-Quds as its capital.

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