MANAMA, 29 June 2005 — Hundreds of Bahraini Shiites took to the streets yesterday afternoon to protest the publication of a caricature of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei in a local newspaper.
The cartoon in Monday’s Al-Ayyam daily showed Khamenei on a graph of the results of the recent presidential election, which was won by the populist Tehran Mayor Ahmadinejad. It showed Khamenei’s long beard growing on the graph in an upward zigzag, apparently referring to his decisive role in Ahmadinejad’s victory.
The protesters gathered in front of the newspaper’s offices in Manama carrying pictures of Khamenei. They demanded that King Hamad intervene to halt what they described as attempts to fuel sectarianism in the country and called for action against the newspaper. The protesters, who included about 50 women, shouted allegiance to Khamenei.
The protest, which lasted for an hour, turned into a march with hundreds lining up along Al-Fateh Highway just a few hundred meters from the newspaper’s office which closed its doors and had police block its entrance as a precautionary measure.
Aqeel Al-Musawi, an independent religious leader, met the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Isa Al-Shaiji following the protest. He said he informed the editor that insulting a prominent Shiite figure like Khamenei was an insult to the whole community and demanded that the newspaper publish an apology.
Al-Musawi said Al-Shaiji emphasized that the newspaper had no intention to show disrespect to anyone and the request to publish an apology would be passed on to the board.
Al-Musawi emphasized that the support expressed for Khamenei does not contradict the patriotism of the participants. He pointed out that Khamenei was a religious figure respected by Shiites around the world.
