Religious Freedom in Ruins – Bahrain regime flattens Mosques under construction from previous repressive demolitions

Mosques Under Construction Re-Demolished by Authorities in Bahrain
09 December, 2012 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses concern over the continued attacks on religious freedom represented in the re-demolishing of Shia mosques, which have been under construction since they were initially attacked and demolished during the government crack-down in 2011.

On December 1st, 2012, government bulldozers demolished four mosques for the second time; no notification was given to the people nor to the municipalities representative. These mosques belong to the Shia sect in the Hamad Town, and were under construction at the time. These four mosques are among the approximately 35 mosques that were demolished in 2011 during the intensive crackdown that followed the pro-democracy protests (for more details on demolished mosques in 2011 see: bahrainrights.org/en/node/4295 ). Although the government promised to rebuild the demolished mosques, following to the release of the BICI report in Nov 2011, it has not taken any concrete steps for the implementation of their plans. However, citizens have taken the initiative to start the construction process of these mosques in the same area where they were formerly located.

The four re-demolished mosques are:

1 Al-Imam AlSajad Mosque, located in Karzakan

2 Fadak AlZahra Mosque, located in Hamad Town R2, There has been formal communication between the municipality and the ministry of Islamic affairs that the land has been assigned to the mosque (2008/2010)

3 Abu Talib Mosque, located in Hamad Town R19, Had a building permit and formal authorization to put a temporary cabin on location (prior to April 2011)

4 Imam Hasan AlAskari Mosque, located in Hamad Town R22, On private land, had a construction permit, Had a formal authorization to put a temporary cabin on location (prior to April 2011)

A sign was placed next to the “AlSajad Mosque” (so photo on the top), which had the name of the Ministry of Justice and the Jaffari Waqf, and stated its intentions for a project to re-construct the mosque. However, the sign was ignored, and the government’s bulldozers took down the walls of the under-construction mosque. …more