July 16, 2016
The Bahraini government on Saturday charged the country’s leading Shia cleric with misappropriating religious funds gathered from the country’s Shia community. Sheikh Isa Qassim stands accused of illegal fund-raising and money-laundering and faces up to seven years in jail and a one million Bahraini dinar ($2.6 million) fine if found guilty. The trial is expected to take place next month, government sources said.
The charges, sources told Middle East Eye, are likely to accelerate plans to strip the country’s Shia imams of the right to collect a religious contribution from the faithful, known as the fifth or khums, which could happen as soon as the end of the year.