Bahrain’s Shia leader urges peaceful defense of tortured defendants facing mass trial

TEHRAN — Sheikh Isa Qassim, the senior Shia cleric whom Bahrain’s rulers stripped of his citizenship in 2016, urged the public on Friday to stand peacefully behind 60 clerics awaiting a court verdict on November 8, and warned the monarchy that a case built on “fabricated and defamatory accusations” could carry grave consequences.