The demonstrations on Friday and Saturday, corresponding to November 6 and 7, 2026, came on the eve of what activists have dubbed a “Day of Popular Rage,” timed to coincide with the court session scheduled for November 8. Protesters in areas including Diraz, Karbabad, Al-Markh, Abu Saiba, Karranah, Sitra Island, and Al-Daraz demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the detained scholars, rejecting the proceedings against them as illegitimate.
The trial, set to be held before Bahrain’s High Criminal Court, involves 69 defendants — 60 of them religious scholars — facing charges that include membership in a terrorist organization, attempting to overthrow the constitutional order, and promoting the Iranian doctrine of Wilayat al-Faqih (Guardianship of the Jurist). Fifty-six of the accused are in custody, while 13 are being tried in absentia.
Background: A Crackdown Following Regional Escalation
The mass arrests of clerics began in May and June, following a period of heightened regional tensions during which Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Bahrain and other Persian Gulf states. Bahraini authorities subsequently launched a sweeping crackdown, arresting hundreds of people accused of sympathizing with or having links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The government also stripped 69 citizens of Iranian heritage of their nationality.
Prominent Muslim leader Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim, who himself was stripped of citizenship in 2016, issued a statement on Friday calling on all Bahrainis to stand with the scholars. He described the defense of the clerics as a national and moral duty, urging supporters to use “every lawful and reasonable means” to protect their health, dignity, and standing, while maintaining a peaceful approach.
“If the government’s course continues to deviate from the path of justice and its approach is based on presenting fabricated and defamatory charges, the responsibility for the physical and psychological well-being of the scholars subjected to unjust trials will rest with every individual in the nation,” Sheikh Qassim warned.
Rights Groups Sound Alarm Over Due Process Violations
The trial has drawn sharp condemnation from international human rights organizations. Amnesty International and 19 other groups have raised grave concerns over allegations of torture, coerced confessions, and severe due process violations, including incommunicado detention and secret proceedings. Twenty organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have called on Bahraini authorities to exclude coerced confessions, release those arbitrarily detained, and investigate the torture allegations.
According to testimony documented by the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), detainees reported forced standing, prolonged blindfolding and handcuffing, sleep deprivation, and threats of sexual violence against them and their families. Defense lawyers have reportedly been unable to adequately review the case files, which span roughly 16,000 pages plus 10,000 pages of financial attachments, and were denied access to interrogation recordings.
Ayatollah Abdullah al-Daqqaq, a senior Bahraini cleric, described the proceedings as “a crime against Muslim Islam in Bahrain” and pointed to specific irregularities: 50 of the 56 interrogated scholars were questioned without a defense attorney present, interrogations took place between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., and 85 percent of the recorded statements were identical — raising questions about how they were drafted.
