In a Thursday report titled “Bahrain: Repression - The Shadow of Tyranny,” Bahrain’s Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society listed the human rights violations committed by the Manama regime in the course of 2013.
According to the nearly 130-page report, Bahraini regime forces detained 214 children last year, with most of them being detained during raids on their houses. A number of other children were also taken from their schools, the report added.
The report, drafted by Al-Wefaq’s Liberties and Human Rights Department (LHRD), further said the Bahraini regime made 7,342 arbitrary arrests between 2011 and 2013. It also highlighted the demolition of religious structures in the Persian Gulf country as well as Manama’s restrictions on religious freedom.
“The human rights situation in Bahrain has reached dangerous levels,” said Sayed Hadi al-Musawi, the LHRD head, adding, “Bahraini citizens are exposed to different forms of violations…, including killing, torture and arrest.”
The LHRD official further criticized the international community for remaining silent in the face of the Manama regime’s numerous human rights violations, saying that the world “is standing on the sidelines and watching as the atrocious human rights abuses continue in broad day light.”
Over the past years, the Manama regime’s human rights record has come under scrutiny over its handling of the peaceful protests across the Persian Gulf country.
Since mid-February 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa family to relinquish power.
Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others injured in the Manama regime’s heavy-handed crackdown on peaceful demonstrations.
MB/MB