Alwaght- Bahraini people demonstrated for the 20th consecutive night calling for an immediate and unconditional release of political inmates amid concerns over the alarming situation of the country’s prisons in light of the coronavirus outbreak.
The demonstrations were held under the banner of “Friday of Prisoners’ Rage,” with participants denouncing Bahraini authorities’ mistreatment of imprisoned activists, and the miserable conditions of prisoners at detention centers across the tiny kingdom.
The demonstrators carried Bahrain’s national flags as well as pictures of jailed political opponents, and chanted anti-regime slogans in several villages, including Karzakan, Karbabad, Hamala, Shahrakan, al-Dair, Karrana, Abu Saiba, Shakhura, Bu Quwah, North Sehla and Samaheej, as they called for the unconditional freedom of the prisoners.
Similar rallies were held in the villages of Dar Kulaib and Ma'ameer, where protestors held up the pictures of prominent opposition figure Zakia al-Barbouri, who was charged to five years in prison on February 6, 2019, and had her citizenship revoked in a politically-motivated case.
Earlier this month, Bahrain’s most prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim warned that political dissidents in Bahraini prisons are facing deaths and demanded their immediate release.
In a statement carried by Arabic-language Bahrain Mirror news website on April 1, the senior cleric called on the ruling Al Khalifa regime to choose between the deaths of the dissident inmates and their release.
“One of the worst things that the government of Bahrain does is to keep prisoners as leverage for political bargaining, especially now that the coronavirus is attacking prisons with full force,” the senior cleric added.
'Over 3,500 prisoners tortured: Ex-MP
A Bahraini opposition figure and former legislator said more than 3,500 opponents of the Al Khalifah regime are subjected to various forms of torture at prisons across the country.
Jalal Firooz, a member of the opposition al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on Saturday that torture, overnight raids, arrest campaigns, human rights violations and revocations of citizenship continue unabated in the Persian Gulf nation.
“The popular Bahraini uprising has not been suppressed. It is like fire under the ashes. People continue to stage nightly demonstrations and the rallies have not stopped,” he said.
Firooz added, “Westerners tend to ignore the Al Khalifah regime’s crimes. If there is any pressure, it is merely aimed at extorting money (from Bahraini authorities) and striking arms deals.”
“Westerners are pursuing their own interests, even at the cost of trampling on the interests of others. They do not believe in human rights. This is just a dirty game in order to milk oppressive rulers, and with this ploy, they will further secure their own interests,” he pointed out.
Firooz described Manama’s normalization of ties with Israel as a gift to certain Western states in order to silence them in light of the Bahraini regime's dismal human rights record.
Demonstrations in Bahrain have been held on a regular basis ever since a popular uprising began in mid-February 2011.
The participants demand that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.
Manama, however, has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent.
On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to assist Bahrain in its crackdown.
On March 5, 2017, Bahrain’s parliament approved the trial of civilians at military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being tantamount to imposition of an undeclared martial law countrywide.
King Hamad ratified the constitutional amendment on April 3, 2017.
