Bahraini activist dies after torture at regime prison

A Bahraini political activist has succumbed to injuries he had sustained under torture during imprisonment, amid growing international condemnation of the Manama regime’s crackdown on dissent in the sheikhdom.

According to Arabic-language Lua Lua TV network, Hussein Mohamed Habib was buried in A’ali town on Wednesday after suffering from long-time injuries caused by torture.

He was arrested and subjected to severe torture and abuse in prison in March 2011 after Saudi Arabia dispatched its military forces to Bahrain to help the Al Khalifah regime suppress anti-government protests in the country, the report said.

Meanwhile, Bahraini sources say political prisoners have gone on general strike at Jaw and Hidd prisons in the country.

On Tuesday, Amnesty International expressed alarm over the Bahraini regime’s maltreatment of female human rights campaigner Ebtesam al-Sa’eq, who has been subjected to torture and sexual abuse by security forces.

The only “crime” committed by Sa’eq, Amnesty said, was protesting the government’s crackdown on oppositionists. The body also voiced concern about her health and called for her immediate and unconditional release.

Ireland-based rights body Front Line Defenders has confirmed the reports of physical abuse and cited the activist as saying that the forces had once reviled her and threatened her with rape if she continued her human rights activism.

Amnesty has, time and again, issued statements condemning Manama for leading an inhumane campaign of suppression against demonstrators and activists. It has also released many reports revealing the regime’s heavy-handed treatment of various campaigners.

Bahrain, which is home to the US Fifth Fleet, has recently stepped up crackdown on critics, barring two main political groups, revoking the citizenship of the spiritual leader of the Shia community, Sheikh Isa Qassim, and jailing rights activists.

Less than 48 hours after US President Donald Trump left Saudi Arabia in May, Bahraini regime troops attacked supporters of Sheikh Qassim in the northwestern village of Diraz, killing at least five people and arresting 286 others.

The London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy said Trump “effectively gave [Bahraini King] Hamad a blank check to continue the repression of his people.”

Read more:

• Bahrain urged to end torture after sex abuse report

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.

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.

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