Bahraini regime forces have prevented dozens of Shia Muslims from holding Friday prayers for the third week in a row as the ruling Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy-handed crackdown against prominent figures

Bahraini regime forces have prevented dozens of Shia Muslims from holding Friday prayers for the third week in a row as the ruling Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy-handed crackdown against prominent figures and followers of the majority religious community in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom.

On Friday, Bahraini regime forces blocked all roads leading to the Imam Sadiq Mosque in the northwestern village of Diraz, situated about 12 kilometers (seven miles) west of the capital Manama, preventing Muslims from converging at the place of worship.

The worshipers then staged a demonstration in front of the mosque to express their outrage over the measure. They chanted slogans against Al Khalifah dynasty, calling for an end to the regime's sectarian discrimination against them.

The development comes as Bahraini authorities have either arrested or summoned 10 Shia clerics over the past few weeks.

Bahraini Shia clerics, in a statement titled “Those Barred from Praying” released on June 16, condemned the Manama regime’s efforts to restrict Shia Muslims’ freedom of religion and belief, describing the situation in the country as “deplorable.”

The statement said that the Al Khalifah regime’s systematic suppression of Bahraini Shia Muslims had reached its highest level ever, and members of the kingdom’s largest religious community felt insecure and faced threats of arrest and prosecution if they sought to observe their religious rituals, primarily Friday and other congregational prayers.