The protests were held in several villages including Bani Jamrah, Diraz, and Ma’ameer on Saturday, with demonstrators chanting slogans against the ruling Al Khalifa regime.

Protesters also expressed solidarity with the political prisoners as the Manama regime ignores international calls to release the inmates.

The Saturday demonstrations came amid a major hunger strike by around 400 prisoners in protest at treatment of inmates in jails.

The al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, which is the country’s main opposition group, stated on its Twitter page on Saturday that families of the prisoners have called on the International Red Cross and human rights organizations to work for an end to the rights violations “against their sons.”

Al-Wefaq said a number of the inmates “passed out” after they were beaten and insulted, adding that the heads of some others were shaved as a sign of “humiliation” and “religious figures were insulted before them.”

Concerns grew among the families particularly after they were not allowed to visit their imprisoned sons.

According to al-Wefaq, some 1,500 inmates were “mistreated” at the central prison, where the Al Khalifa regime holds activists on political and security charges.

The Bahraini Interior Ministry has rejected the allegations over the treatment of inmates. It says the “prison administration deals with detainees based on the systems and regulations applied in the country.”

Since mid-February 2011, Bahraini protesters have held numerous demonstrations, calling for the Al Khalifa regime to relinquish power.

HH/HH