🏴 Husayni Mourning Around the World – 2026

🌐 21. Bahrain:

Ashura International Foundation / Husayni Mourning News:

The Bahrain News website, affiliated with the February 14 Youth Coalition, published a report on the holding of Muharram ceremonies by Bahrainis despite the Al Khalifa regime’s opposition to Shiite religious rituals and Ja’fari observances in the country.

The news outlet wrote in this regard: It is well known that the February 14 Revolution in Bahrain, which began in 2011, was not recognized among the Arab Spring uprisings because Al Khalifa exerted every effort to suppress it through media propaganda and distortion of popular demands, portraying it as a sectarian movement affiliated with foreign countries, particularly the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Since then, and even long before, the Al Khalifa regime has been preparing its plan to eliminate Shiites in Bahrain, gradually implementing its policies in accordance with the requirements of each phase the region has undergone.

However, the Al Khalifa regime’s persistent failure to subjugate the Shiite popular base—which is founded on the principle of supporting resistance and opposing normalization with the Zionist regime—combined with its complete immersion in the American-Zionist coalition, drove Al Khalifa to a stage of overt repression and excessive intimidation, especially after its allies attacked Iran, which led to the Al Khalifa regime’s open declaration of a “war of purification” against Bahrain’s Shiites.

The February 14 Youth Coalition believes that the American-Zionist aggression against Iran and Lebanon emboldened the Al Khalifa regime’s repressive policies by exploiting Arab and international media’s preoccupation with these events.

According to Bahrain News, this is particularly true following the Al Khalifa regime’s failure to achieve satisfactory results after years of political containment, gradual religious persecution, and a policy of denial.

The regime failed to penetrate popular resistance and secure the complete, explicit, and comprehensive loyalty of citizens—especially religious scholars and the spiritual and social forces of Bahrain’s Shiite community. This led to the regime’s frustration, particularly given Al Khalifa’s inability to formulate a new policy to confront the resistance of opposition leaders and their supporters.

However, according to the February 14 Youth Coalition, the Al Khalifa regime regained its capacity for repression and intimidation after the targeting of Sayed Hassan Nasrallah—the master of the martyrs of the Ummah—and this intensified following the American and Zionist regime’s aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran, prompting the despotic Hamad (the King of Bahrain) to declare a “war of ethnic cleansing against Bahrain’s Shiites.” This included crossing red lines such as criminalizing religious beliefs, arresting prominent scholars, seizing Ja’fari endowments (waqf), and diligently attempting to erase rituals deeply rooted in Shiite consciousness and history.

The Bahrain News outlet continued by noting that the people of this country are today engaged in an unparalleled battle worthy of appreciation amid current events, adding: This battle, although unarmed and without martyrs like those of Iran and Lebanon, is one of existence.

The news outlet described the arrest of dozens of Shiite scholars, their isolation from society, and the detention of hundreds of youths, along with the most dangerous aspect of the battle against their rituals—the most important of which is Ashura—as something that must awaken the conscience of all free people.

The report referred to the Al Khalifa regime’s measures to silence the call of Muharram in Bahrain, adding: Even before Muharram began, the Al Khalifa regime adopted a policy of silencing the Shiite voice by arresting preachers and eulogists of the AhlulBayt (a.s.), preventing them from fulfilling their duties, intensifying attacks on cities, removing all banners, placards, and slogans related to Ashura, and spreading fear and threats among the devotees of the AhlulBayt (a.s.). However, implementing this policy did not prevent the people and youth of Bahrain from confronting the Al Khalifa regime’s mercenary gangs and re-erecting Ashura banners and placards.

The Bahrain News outlet described the mourning processions as the most prominent element in the Bahraini people’s struggle against despotism, adding: The fact that thousands of Shiites participate in Husayni processions—even without the most prominent eulogists—and that they beat their chests in mourning for Imam Hussein (a.s.), is the best evidence that these people, in their peaceful movement, are continuing the Husayni revolution.

According to the report, Bahrain’s Shiites, even without the presence of their leaders—who are in the Al Khalifa regime’s prisons—bear the responsibility of conveying the message of “breaking the chains” and “defying the oppressor,” even if only through words.

The Bahrain News outlet concluded: Thus, Ashura in Bahrain is an extension of the revolution of Lady Zaynab (s.a.) and Imam Zayn al-Abidin (a.s.), and this arena represents struggle through words, steadfastness, and most importantly, certainty in survival and continuity.