TEHRAN — Crowds filled the streets of Sitra Island on Friday night, marching in direct defiance of the Al Khalifa regime’s expanding campaign against Bahrain’s Shia majority.

Located roughly five kilometers south of Manama, Sitra has long stood as a resilient focal point of resistance against regime-sanctioned persecution.

Demonstrators gathered to demand the immediate release of political detainees and an end to widespread human rights abuses.

The immediate catalyst for the late-night rally was a marathon 13-hour judicial session held on August 19, during which dozens of prominent Shia scholars and preachers were subjected to mass show trials.

Courtroom manipulation and violent raids

The August 19 proceedings offered a glaring illustration of Bahrain’s corrupted legal apparatus.

Authorities kept the accused scholars in a separate room from the judges, forcing defense attorneys to challenge testimonies delivered via remote video links.

State witnesses concealed their identities behind masks while making unsubstantiated claims against the religious leaders.

Under cross-examination, one masked witness failed to explain basic theological concepts such as Wilayat al-Faqih (the concept of jurist-led political authority in Shia Islam).

Defendant Sheikh Hani al-Bina condemned the proceedings inside the courtroom, revealing that authorities withheld thousands of pages of interrogation files while coercing confessions under severe physical and psychological torture.

This represents only the latest phase of a systematic crackdown.

Violent nighttime raids carried out since May have resulted in the arbitrary arrest of more than 50 clerics, seminary professors, and prayer leaders.

Human rights groups report that detained scholars face degrading treatment, including being brought to hearings in heavy wrist and ankle shackles.

Sectarian siege and foreign backing

The suppression by the Al Khalifa regime has increasingly targeted the core of Shia religious identity.

Bahraini authorities banned citizens from traveling to holy cities in Iraq and Iran, shut down over 50 Hussainiyas (religious gathering places for Muharram rituals and processions), and issued administrative bans against 19 eulogists.

Regime forces have also blocked Friday congregational prayers for 77 consecutive weeks, deploying heavily armed mercenaries to enforce a virtual siege around Shia villages. Mourning processions face routine police violence, where regime forces tear down black flags and fire tear gas into crowds of worshipers.

The Al Khalifa regime carries out these measures with explicit backing from foreign patrons.

By hosting the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet and formalizing security pacts with Israel, Manama relies on Western and Zionist power to crush domestic dissent.

Foreign military bases serve to shield the ruling family from political accountability, turning the island into an operational base for foreign powers while treating native citizens as enemies on their own land.

Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim, Bahrain’s foremost spiritual authority, recently warned that Shia Islam, its preachers, and its foundational institutions face an existential threat under current state policies.

He accused regional regimes of enabling Washington and Tel Aviv to foster sectarian divisions across the Muslim Ummah.