Destruction of Shia mosques during the 2011 Bahraini uprising

During the 2011 Bahraini uprising, as many as 43 Shia mosques and tens of other religious structures including graves, shrines and hussainiyas (religious meeting houses) were intentionally destroyed or damaged by the ruling Sunni Bahraini authorities in the country. The widespread action in Shiite villages across this island was seen as part of a government crackdown on Shiite dissidents, although Bahrain's Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs, Sheikh Khalid bin Ali bin Abdulla al Khalifa, claimed that only mosques illegally built without permission had been targeted.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights has classified the widespread cultural destruction as "crimes of genocide under the UN Convention on Genocide (1948)."

In July 2011, Iranian media reported that at least 52 mosques and over 500 religious Shia sites had been levelled in Bahrain. Among those destroyed was the ornate 400-year-old Ottoman Amir Mohammed Braighi mosque in Aali. In Nuwaidrat, where the first anti-government protests began on February 14, only the portico of the Mo'men mosque was left standing (see left). Many others in the village were also bulldozed. One of the most famous Shia shrines which was destroyed was that belonging to Bahraini Shia spiritual leader, Sheikh Abdul Amir al-Jamri, who died in 2006. Its golden dome had been removed. Graffiti insulting the Shia was also left on some of the desecrated mosques. The Sasa'a bin Sawhan Mosque in Askar, an ancient mosque which dates to shortly after the death of Muhammad, was also damaged.

The government of Bahrain made it clear that they had engaged in dismantling structures which had been erected without legal authorisation. The Shia felt that the widespread demolitions were reprisals for their involvement in the protests against the ruling Sunni discrimination against their community. Some felt the involvement of Saudi troops indicated that some elements were trying to impose the Wahhabi doctrine which views shrines as un-Islamic.

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Wikipedia