Bahraini regime's human rights violations have risen unprecedentedly, a rights group reported saying the abuses are taking place in a more systematic manner.
The Bahrain Forum for Human Rights (BFHR) released on Sunday its annual report, titled as "Bahrain...The Map of Persecution: Undermining Civil Society", saying it had documented 2,389 rights violations in 2016, including 337 cases of violations of the right to freedom of religion.
The report added that the Manama regime illegally revoked the citizenship of 306 people last year while arbitrarily arresting some 1,246 others, including 185 children.
"The Bahraini authorities failed to provide effective administrative or judicial reference for those who were stripped of their nationalities, and stirred up lawsuits of illegal stay and forced deportation against some of them," it said.
The BFHR further said that, "The Bahraini authorities have imposed a complete ban on peaceful assembly since 2014, and have used excessive force to disperse demonstrators since 2011, which have caused 4,997 injuries."
The rights group also said that the Bahraini regime approved legislation and made changes to certain laws in order to be able to prosecute activists.
It also called for the lifting of the ban imposed on the right to peaceful assembly and for an end to the restrictions on the right to freedom of expression.
BFHR report echoes Human Rights Watch's (HRW)annual report on the tiny Persian Gulf Island in which the non-governmental organization declares "There was a marked deterioration in the human rights situation in Bahrain in mid-2016, when authorities dissolved the main political opposition group, al-Wifaq, jailed the country's leading human rights activist, and harassed and prosecuted Shia clerics who peacefully protested the arbitrary revocation of the citizenship of al-Wifaq's spiritual leader, Sheikh Isa Qasim. This orchestrated crackdown on the rights to free expression, assembly and association undermined prospects for a political solution to Bahrain's domestic unrest".
HRW 2016 report blames Bahraini authorities for making "little progress in holding officials accountable for the mistreatment and torture of detainees," as well as their illegal act of arbitrarily stripping "citizenship from Bahrainis who have been critical of the government, " or subjecting "civil society actors to arbitrary travel bans."
Anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country on February 14, 2011. People have been demanding that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and a just system representing all Bahrainis be established.
The western-backed regime has been cracking down on all dissent since then.
On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to Bahrain to assist the Manama government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.
Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or been arrested as a result of Bahrain's crackdown.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/6132
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