Bahrain Mirror: Clerics in Bahrain issued a statement expressing their deep concern over the health of the spiritual leader of the country's Shiite majority, Sheikh Isa Qassim, calling on the people in Bahrain to take the initiative and take to the streets.

In their statement, they stressed that Ayatollah Qassim's condition could no longer be tolerated, demanding the authorities to end the house arrest and lift the "oppressive military siege around his home immediately."

The clerics said that "any delay after today in lifting the siege will mean to the people that of the regime has deliberate intention of insisting on killing the Sheikh in his house with cold blood."

"All these acts of cracking down on the people for their religious faith, besieging their religious symbols, their leaders, their youth and women, the campaigns of house raids and arrests, and the fabrication of charges against political opponents, the latest of which shoving the name of the opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman in the futile tribal and Gulf feuds, are pathetic and failed attempts that will not discourage the people from continuing their movement and calling for their rights," read the statement.

The Bahraini clerics called on the Bahraini people to "take the initiative...we call upon all men, young men, women and children to take to the streets and prepare their victory by holding peaceful marches in all areas in protest against the escalation of crackdowns, raids and arrests, and the refusal to have the homeland shoved into regional conflicts and feuds... There is a religious and national responsibility that falls on everyone's shoulders which is to move before a disaster, and undesirable consequences take place."

Arabic Version