Alwaght- The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad, stressed that Bahrain needs "profound reforms", deeming the revocation of the citizenships of dissents a "practice of concern".
In an address he delivered during the 31st session of the Human Rights Council on Thursday in Geneva, the high commissioner added that the Bahraini government "continues to silence political opponents, journalists and human rights defenders by arrests, revocation of citizenship and deportation."
Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein further expressed his concern regarding human rights violations in Bahrain, stressing that "if past human rights violations are not adequately addressed, grievances and other issues at the root of the past conflicts will continue to fester."
Meanwhile, hundreds of Bahrainis took to the streets across the Persian Gulf kingdom Friday in a show of protest against the continued imprisonment of prominent Shiite Islamic scholar and opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman.
Bahrainis also expressed their anger over the presence of Saudi occupation forces and demanding the ouster of the brutal al-Khalifa monarchy.
Protesters staged a rally in the northwestern Bahraini village of Diraz, situated about 12 kilometers (7 miles) southeast of the capital, Manama, following Friday prayers, demanding the freedom of Salman, who heads the country’s main opposition bloc al-Wefaq National Islamic Society.
The marchers, carrying portraits of Salman and Bahrain’s national flags, also called for a peaceful democratic transition in Bahrain, and denounced the Manama regime’s discrimination against different walks of the Bahraini nation.
Since February 14, 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations on an almost daily basis in Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifah family to relinquish power, the end of discrimination and establishment of a people’s based government.
