Afghan Voice Agency (AVA): Families of political prisoners sentenced to death tried to meet Pope Francis during their rally in Manama, but Bahraini security forces prevented them from doing so and threatened them.
This is the Pope's first visit to Manama and his second visit to one of the Persian Gulf countries, as he previously visited the UAE in 2019. The Pope's journey ends this Sunday.
According to IRNA, according to a published video, relatives of political prisoners sentenced to death and others sentenced to life imprisonment in Bahrain gathered yesterday (Saturday) on the way of Pope Francis' convoy and demanded the release of political prisoners in this country.
It is not clear whether the pope saw the banners raised by the protesters as he made his way from his residence to a school in Jesus City, where he addressed students and teachers.
The London-based Bahrain Institute for Law and Democracy and the defunct National Islamic Union of Bahrain released a clip of the rally, which was attended by a number of women and children.
In 2011, Hassan Mushaima, one of the leaders of the opposition to the Al-Khalifa regime, was sentenced to life imprisonment for supporting the anti-government demonstrations of the people.
In this video, a policeman can be heard talking to the protesters and threatening them not to raise their demands when the Pope's convoy is moving.
The Bahrain Institute for Law and Democracy announced in a statement that the police forced the demonstrators into their cars and drove them away.
Ahead of the Pope's arrival in Bahrain on Thursday, families of death-row inmates urged him to publicly criticize the punishment and defend political prisoners during the trip.
He did so in his first speech on Friday before government officials and the Bahraini diplomatic establishment.
Pope Francis, the leader of the world's Catholics, arrived in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, on Thursday for a four-day visit, and on Friday, he participated in the closing ceremony of the conference called "Peace and Coexistence in Bahrain", which was held in the presence of Sheikh Al-Azhar's Ahmed al-Tayeb.
Manama, the capital city of Bahrain, witnessed demonstrations against the Bahraini government in recent days. Last Wednesday and Thursday, the night demonstrations were in condemnation of the continuation of repression by the government and the condemnation of Al-Khalifa's invitation to participate in the elections.
Demonstrators demanded non-participation in this election and its boycott and supported all the prisoners in the prisons of the Al-Khalifa regime.
This demonstration was held at the same time as the "Peace and Coexistence in Bahrain" conference. Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qasim, the leader of Bahraini Shiites, criticized the participation of Pope Francis, the leader of world Catholics, and some other religious figures in this conference and said that this conference was held in the direction of normalizing relations with the Zionist regime and the continuation of oppression against the people of Bahrain.