Bahrain’s Protesters Show Solidarity with Prisoners + Video

Fri Mar 13, 2015 22:45:10

Anti-regime protesters staged rallies in Bahrain to show support for jailed activists in the country’s notorious al-Jaw prison.

Protesters took to the streets on the island city of Sitra and also in the village of Ma’ameer, which is the country’s industrial hub, in solidarity with the prisoners.

On Tuesday, sources close to Bahrain’s opposition revealed that regime security forces had attacked inmates at al-Jaw prison and injured dozens of the jailed activists.

Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society said the crackdown came after security forces attacked visitors, who were trying to see their relatives inside the prison, which is located in a remote area South of the capital, Manama.

Al-Wefaq added that the regime is putting the lives of the prisoners at risk to take revenge from them for the expression of their inalienable rights and political ideas.

The families of the victims have confirmed the incident at the facility.

Messages on social media said two inmates, namely Jameel Abdel-Ghani and Ali Hussein Abdel-Nabi, were beaten severely by the regime forces.

The notorious al-Jaw prison is Bahrain’s main detention facility and is where the regime holds hundreds of people, merely for participating in the peaceful anti-monarchy protests and voicing their demands.

Meanwhile, in the capital, Manama, protesters burned tires and blocked roads.Elsewhere, security forces clashed with protesters in the village of Dumistan on Tuesday night.Regime forces fired tear gas at the protesters.

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

Many people have been killed and hundreds of others injured and arrested in the crackdown on peaceful demonstrations since 2011.

Meanwhile Nabeel Rajab famous humen righte activist is set to appear in court on Sunday 15 March to find out whether his sentence over a tweet will be overturned.

In January, Rajab, the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, was handed down a six-month suspended sentence pending a fine over the following tweet

Bahrain’s ministry of interior and ministry of defence both alleged the tweet “denigrated government institutions”. Rajab was released on bail while appealing the verdict, the outcome of which is expected on Sunday.

Rajab, one of Bahrain’s most prominent human rights activist, has been continuously targeted by authorities in relation to his human rights campaigning work. He was released from prison last May, where he spent two years on charges which included writing offensive tweets and participating in illegal protests.

“It is very hard to estimate what could happen on Sunday,” Sayed Alwadaei, director of advocacy for The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, told Index in an email.

On Thursday, Rajab wrote to Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s foreign policy chief. Calling for further international support for himself and his fellow human rights activists, he said he was “deeply disappointed by the EU’s lack of strong action to back up its human rights commitments in its foreign policy”.

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