Bahraini forces arrest 2 children as rights violations, crackdown intensify

The Bahraini forces have once again resumed their crackdown on Bahraini peaceful protesters, with the latest of assaults against two children from the Diraz village, which is home to the spiritual leader of the country’s Shia majority, Sheikh Isa Qassim.

The two young boys, Mojtaba Mounir and Mahdi Sayyed Maitham were arrested by the Bahraini forces on Thursday and taken before the public prosecutor’s office.

“The resumption of arrests in February coincides with the 12th anniversary of the revolution in Bahrain, in which citizens demand democracy and social justice as well as reforms and a comprehensive political plan,” said al-Wefaq National Islamic Society in a statement.

It also added that the policy of arrests and filling prisons with peaceful protesters is an immature policy that reflects security and legal chaos, and demonstrates that the Bahraini regime is moving in the wrong direction.

“The attitude of the regime shows the depth of the political crisis, and the absence of any serious solution to resolve the status-quo,” the statement went on to say.

The statement also pointed out that “imprisonment, torture and repression of the nation by the regime is a sign of lack of national agreement.”

Such an attitude is a reflection of the falsehood of the slogans put forward by the Al Khalifa regime on peaceful coexistence, said the statement.

Since the beginning of the unrest in Bahrain, several Bahraini rights groups have strongly denounced the Al Khalifah regime’s continued violation of the rights of hundreds of children in breach of UN conventions.

On a related note, prisoners at the notorious Jau prison issued a statement on Thursday in which they said that if the situation continues to worsen at the prison, they will declare an open-ended hunger strike.

Informed source have warned about inhumane conditions at Bahrain’s notorious Jau Prison, saying more than a dozen prisoners have been brutally beaten and subjected to various forms of physical torture in the detention center, as the Al Khalifah regime continues to terrorize them one way or another.

Also in January, an independent human rights organization raised the alarm over "inhumane conditions" at Bahrain’s Jau Prison, saying prisoners were exposed to various forms of physical and mental torture at the jail.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) said officials at the prison had ramped up their repressive measures and harassment of imprisoned political dissidents, including human rights advocate Abdulhadi  al-Khawaja.

Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the kingdom 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 the tiny island in its crackdown on dissent.

Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries as a result of the Al Khalifah regime’s crackdown on dissent.

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