Bahraini prison officials have reportedly placed an imprisoned anti-regime dissident into solitary confinement, as the ruling Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy-handed clampdown on political dissidents in the Persian Gulf kingdom. RNA - Social media activists said authorities at the notorious Jau Prison decided to throw hunger striking Moqdad al-Jaziri into solitary confinement after he revealed a T-shirt on which he had written “We demand the removal of [visitation] barriers” in an act of protest, the Arabic-language Lualua television network reported.
Earlier this week, the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) reported that Jaziri is among at least 15 prisoners, who have been on hunger strike for the past 20 days, demanding unobstructed family visitation.
Jaziri was arrested in 2012 and later sentenced to 14 years in prison over what human rights campaigners describe as politically motivated charges.
Activists also accuse authorities in Jau Prison of repeatedly denying the Bahraini detainee access to medical care.
Bahraini court sentences five dissidents to life in prison
Separately, a court in Bahrain has sentenced five anti-regime protesters to life imprisonment and handed down prison sentences to two more.
The court sentenced the quintet to life in prison on Thursday after finding them guilty of “planning terrorist attacks during the Formula 1 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix” motor race that took place on March 31.
The other two defendants in the case received 7-year prison sentences for allegedly aiding the other five.
Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country in mid-February 2011.
They are demanding that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.
According to Press TV, Manama 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.
Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of the Al Khalifah regime’s 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.
Bahraini monarch King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah ratified the constitutional amendment on April 3, 2017.
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