Bahraini Shiite cleric handed suspended jail term

A Bahraini court yesterday sentenced Isa Qassim, a prominent Shiite cleric, to a suspended one- year jail term for illegal fundraising and money laundering. The court handed down the same verdict to two of Qassim’s aides, Sheikh Hussein Mahrus and Mirza Al Obaidli, said a judicial source, adding the sentences were suspended for three years. The prosecution also an- nounced the sentences without naming Qassim, adding they were each fined 100,000 dinars (Dh974,700) and that the court ordered the confiscation of the funds they raised.

Qassim, 76, remains at his residence in the village of Diraz, outside Manama, where supporters have held a sit-in since last June when he was stripped of his citizenship.

At the time, authorities accused him of abusing his position as a cleric to “serve foreign interests and promote sectarianism and violence”.

Hundreds of Shiites protested on Saturday in villages near the capital, brandishing posters of Qassim before the court issued its verdict.

Qassim, who is considered the spiritual leader of Bahrain’s Shiite-majority community, went on trial in July.

At the time, the attorney general said he had deposited more than US$10 million (Dh36.7m) in his private bank account.

Qassim kept other amounts in cash to avoid legal controls, said the attorney general, accusing the cleric of buying properties worth more than 1 million dinars in an attempt to launder the funds. Bahrain has been shaken by unrest since security forces crushed Shiite-led protests demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister in 2011.