News / Persian Gulf

Al Khalifah regime committed 50+ violations against Bahrainis in last week of Jan.: al-Wefaq

Monday, 31 January 2022 6:35 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 31 January 2022 6:49 PM ]

This undated file picture shows Manama regime forces in an undisclosed location in Bahrain. (Photo by AFP)

Bahrain's main opposition group, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, says Al Khalifah regime forces have committed dozens of violations against Bahraini nationals in the last week of the month of January, amid ongoing repression in the tiny Persian Gulf country.

Al-Wefaq, in a statement released on Monday, announced that it has recorded numerous violations against citizens and prisoners of conscience between January 22 and 28, and the figure stands at over 50 cases.

The statement referred to the arbitrary detention of political dissident Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali as the most egregious violation, after he was deported from Serbia and handed over to Bahraini authorities, despite a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) specifically forbidding this.

He was extradited on January 24 after Serbian officials responded to a request from the Manama regime.

"الوفاق": أكثر من 50 انتهاكا حقوقيا في الإسبوع الرابع من يناير، وقضية المعتقل" أحمد جعفر علي" تتصدر الإنتهاكات

لقراءة التقرير كاملاً: https://t.co/QEjswL9CJt #الوفاق #البحرين #Bahrain pic.twitter.com/pj0s1DfkSi
— Alwefaq Society (@ALWEFAQ) January 31, 2022

Ali, who had previously been twice sentenced to life in prison in Bahrain in absentia, applied for asylum in Serbia in November 2021, arguing that he risked torture and potentially death in his homeland.

Al-Wefaq then pointed to the arrest of another anti-regime activist identified as Sayed Khalil Majid.

Bahraini regime forces also sent out four against three citizens in the last week of January. Activist and teacher Ali Muhanna was summoned twice, according to the al-Wefaq report.

The detention of five minors was extended for the fourth time in a row, pending further investigation.

Rights group warns of widespread discriminations, women's rights violations in Bahrain

An independents rights group has warned of widespread discriminations and violations of women’s rights in Bahrain.

Manama regime forces carried out 37 raids across Bahrain, most notably in the city of Jidhafs as well as the villages of Sanabis and al-Daih, during the mentioned period.

Moreover, people staged 16 peaceful protests in eleven regions, namely the villages of Diraz, al-Dair, Sanabis, Abu Saiba, Shakhura, Damistan and Karbabad.

Bahrain’s most prominent cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim has said that drawing up a new constitution was the only way out of the political crisis in the protest-hit tiny Persian Gulf country, urging the regime in Manama to pursue an agreement with the Bahraini opposition instead of increasingly suppressing dissent.

Demonstrations have been held in Bahrain on a regular basis ever since a popular uprising began in mid-February 2011.