Bahrain Intensifies Crackdown On Shia Communities, Arrests Dozens Over Alleged IRGC Links
Bahrain’s Interior Ministry announced on Saturday the arrest of 41 citizens, including multiple Shia religious leaders, over alleged ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The ministry said security services uncovered the alleged network through "investigations, security reports, and previous Public Prosecution cases related to espionage involving foreign entities." The detainees are accused of "espionage involving foreign entities and sympathy with blatant Iranian aggression."
Around 30 Shia Muslim clerics were among the 41 arrested, as the Gulf monarchy intensifies a campaign of raids and arrests predominantly targeting Shia religious figures and seminary teachers in Bahrain.
The arrests mark a new security escalation by Manama and form part of a continued policy of restrictions against clerics in the country. The Bahrain News Agency reported that legal proceedings are now underway against the 41 detainees.
Earlier this week, Bahrain stripped three lawmakers of their seats in parliament after they publicly criticized the monarchy’s crackdown on dissent over its support for the US–Israeli war on Iran:
In a vote in Manama on Thursday, the Bahraini House of Representatives revoked the memberships of Abdulnabi Salman, Mahdi al-Shuwaikh, and Mamdouh al-Saleh. The three lawmakers publicly opposed the monarchy’s move last week to revoke the citizenship of 69 Bahrainis and their families, accusing them of “sympathizing with Iran.”
Bahrain has a majority Shia population but is ruled by the Sunni Al-Khalifa royal family. The kingdom hosts the largest US naval base in the region, home to the US Fifth Fleet.
That decision came less than two weeks after Bahrain revoked the citizenship of 69 people over alleged support for Iranian retaliatory attacks on the country.
The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy described the move as "dangerous" and a "blatant abuse of power," saying the individuals had not been publicly named and that their legal status remained unclear.
Since the launch of the US-Israeli war on Iran on February 28, Bahrain has escalated a sweeping domestic crackdown tied to alleged support for Tehran and opposition to the country’s western alignments.
#Bahrain’s regime has intensified a sweeping campaign of raids and arrests targeting Shiite religious scholars, including prominent cleric and seminary professor Sheikh Mahmoud Al-A’ali, amid the systematic crackdown tied to political expression and public positions regarding the… pic.twitter.com/aJ52unoTzb
— Alwefaq Society - English (@AlWefaqEnglish) May 9, 2026
Authorities have reportedly arrested hundreds of people since then, targeting Shia communities, banning public gatherings, detaining activists, and jailing dissidents.
In March, Bahraini authorities tortured Shia activist Mohammad al-Mousawi to death after accusing him of being an Iranian spy, with AP citing witnesses who described signs of beatings, cable whippings, and electrocution burns on his body.