A group of UN human rights experts called [press release] Thursday for the Bahraini government to respect and guarantee Shia leader and cleric, Isa Qassim, his human rights.

In June 2016 Qassim was stripped of his Bahraini citizenship, putting him in danger of being deported from the country. In May Quassim was charged with money laundering crimes related to the practice of “khums,” a Shia religious practice of tithing. He remains under de facto house arrest to this day.

In November the 76-year-old cleric suffered a life threatening health condition. It took three hours for a doctor to arrive and an additional week before authorities allowed him to be transferred to a hospital, despite the doctor’s insistence that he receive immediate urgent care.

Four UN Special Rapporteurs condemned the Bahraini government’s actions as violations of “principles of freedom of expression, freedom of association and peaceful assembly and freedom of religion or belief.”

The experts called on the Bahraini government to guarantee that Quassim receive medical care free of government interference, that he be allowed to receive visitors and that he continue to receive adequate medical treatment following his release from the hospital.