The King of Bahrain sought to promote his country as a global champion of religious tolerance, with a declaration in mid-September that advocated freedom of religion for all and a rejection of extremism.
In the Bahrain Declaration, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa ‘unequivocally reject[s] compelled observance’. The one-page pledge, which was co-sponsored by the Jewish US-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, also calls for the condemnation of terrorism, of stirring up extremism, of suicide bombing and of sexual slavery.
