Leading Religious Figure Returns To Bahrain After Eight Years In Iran
MANAMA, March 9 (News Agencies) - A leading Shiite religious figure, Sheikh Issa Ahmed Qassem, was given a triumphant welcome Friday after returning to Bahrain from eight years in exile in Iran.
Qassem, 62, who was greeted by a crowd of several thousand, returned after political reforms in Bahrain, where a Shiite majority population is governed over by a Sunni minority.
Qassem, a member of the parliament that was dissolved in 1975, said he did not intend to engage in political activities, but would confine himself to religious teaching and guidance.
In Friday prayers in his hometown of Diraz, west of Manama, Qassem said he preferred to leave political matters to Sheikh Abdel Amir al-Jamri, 64, the main opposition figure in Bahrain.
Referring to anti-government riots from 1994 to 1999, when he threatened to call for a holy war in Bahrain, Qassem told a press conference he hoped the reforms would allow the past to be left behind.
A national charter for democratic reforms, notably the restoration of parliament after a 26-year break, won a crushing majority in a referendum last month.
The government declared an amnesty for opponents ahead of the referendum, which led to several opposition leaders returning to the country.
