International Shia News Agency

Activist Reveals Al-Khalifa’s Intensified Pressures, Harsher Torture of Prisoners

SHAFAQNA – A prominent Bahraini human rights activist revealed on Monday that the al-Khalifa regime has intensified pressures on protestors and is torturing detainees through harsher methods.

“Beating, hanging handcuffed, using electric shock, sexual harassment of prisoners, forcing inmates to stand up for hours with their hands cuffed and their eyes blindfolded, and forcing the detainees to sleep with their hands tied are among the common torture methods used in al-Khalifa prisons,” Seyed Ali al-Moussavi, a member of Bahrain’s Human Rights Center, told FNA.

He said that the demands of the detainees’ families from the interior ministry to pursue the torture cases and improve the situation of prisoners have remained unanswered.

“This time Bahrain’s Human Rights Center has called on the International Red Cross to pressure the Bahraini government,” Moussavi said.

In a relevant development on Friday, Bahraini regime forces attacked protesters marking the fourth anniversary of Saudi Arabia’s military intervention to crush the uprising in the Persian Gulf country.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of al-Daih, al-Musalla, Bilad al-Qadeem, and Diraz to denounce the occupation of Bahraini land by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The angry demonstrators chanted slogans against the Saudi monarchy and demanded the immediate withdrawal of all Saudi Arabian and UAE forces from the country.

Several people were injured after the Al Khalifa forces fired teargas and birdshots to disperse protesters in several villages near Manama.

Similar protest rallies were also held elsewhere across Bahrain.

The protesters also called for the release of the country’s main opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman and all political prisoners detained in the government crackdown.

The demonstrators pledged to continue their protests until their demands are met.

On March 13, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.

Bahrain’s opposition has frequently said it considered any foreign military intervention to be an occupation. It has also called on the international community to act to ensure the protection of the people of Bahrain from the danger of foreign military intervention.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations on the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa family to relinquish power.

Scores of Bahrainis have been killed and hundreds of others injured and arrested in the ongoing crackdown on peaceful demonstrations.

The regime’s crackdown on peaceful protests has been intensified over the past months since the arrest of top opposition leader Sheikh Salman last December.

Amnesty International and several other human rights organizations have repeatedly called on Bahraini officials to observe the citizens’ rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

Source : Farsnews.com

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