Editorial photo #1863911 Unrest, Conflicts and War

Clashes after the death of a young Bahraini

Clashes after the death of a young Bahraini after being shot outside the home of the Shiite leader in Bahrain on March 25, 2017. A young Bahraini man died in hospital yesterday , nearly two months after he was shot in the head by gunmen in civilian clothes outside the home of the country's top Shi'ite Muslim cleric, activists and a local newspaper said. Thousands of Bahraini citizens participated in the funeral, while clashes broke out with the regime's forces. The latter used tear gas and bullets, while demonstrators waved Bahraini flags and rejected the policy of repression. Tensions have been high in Western-allied Bahrain since last year over a government crackdown on the opposition that had included the banning of a main Shi'ite Muslim group, plans to ban another secular society and the trial of the spiritual leader of the kingdom's Shi'ite Muslim community. Mustafa Hamdan, 18, had been in a comma since a Jan. 26 raid on the home of Ayatollah Isa Qassim, the spiritual leader of Bahrain's Shi'ite community, in the village of Duraz, near Manama. The British-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) said security forces wearing masks and civilian clothes opened fire in the dawn raid on a crowd, which including Hamdan, that had gathered outside Qassim's house. Several other people were wounded as a result. Hamdan had been on life support since then, BIRD said, describing his death as "an extrajudicial killing by the Bahraini government". (Photo by Sayed Baqer AlKamel/NurPhoto)