Bahrain forces attack mourning Shia inmates in Jaw prison

Rasa - Bahraini regime forces have reportedly attacked dozens of Shia inmates at Jaw prison as the ruling Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy-handed crackdown against prominent figures and followers of the majority religious community in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom.

News ID: 431905

Date: 24 August 2017 - 21:39

RNA - The prisoners were marking the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Muhammad al-Jawad (PBUH) -- the ninth Shia Imam, who died on the 29th day of the lunar calendar month of Dhul Qa’dah more than 12 centuries ago -- on Tuesday evening, when prison guards stormed into Building 14 of the detention facility and started beating the mourners, Arabic-language Lualua television network reported.

The regime forces then placed them in solitary confinement.

Hundreds of inmates are kept in the notorious Jaw prison, Bahrain’s central detention facility, for their participation in peaceful pro-democracy rallies.

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 dynasty relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.

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, 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.

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