Bahrain ups torture of Shia prisoners

06 November, 2010 06:10

The Bahraini Center for Human Rights has expressed grave concerns about the increased use of torture against the political detainees in the country.

According to the prominent rights group, Bahraini authorities have intensified pressure and torture against political detainees after they complained to the court last week that they were ill-treated and tortured in prison.

According to the Shiite News,The 23 opposition detainees, Â comprised of human rights defenders and political and religious figures, appeared before court on October 28 after spending nearly three months in jail. Two of the defendants were tried in absentia.

While in prison, the detainees were deprived of their legal rights, including meeting their lawyers and family members. The lawyers were allowed to meet with the detainees only 30 minutes before the beginning of the trial.

During the court hearing, the detainees complained of the excruciating torture they suffered for days and denied all allegations made against them, saying all confessions were coerced through torture.

Family members of the detainees, who were allowed to meet their relatives only for a few minutes after the court hearing, told BHCR that the detainees were severely tortured and that the signs of torture were seen all over their bodies.

According to BHCR, the detainees have been subjected to electric shocks, hard beatings, hanging from the hands and feet and kept in solitary confinement since their arrest. They were also deprived of sleep and forced to stand for long hours.

The detainees had also told the court that the security forces have threatened them with more severe torture should they speak of it in court. However, the detainees appealed to the court to guarantee they would not be tortured again.

Bahrain’s Sunni-dominated government has arrested hundreds of Shia activists since mid-August, ahead of last month’s parliamentary elections, accusing them of having links to terrorists and conspiring to overthrow the Bahraini government.

According to human rights groups, the Shia detainees have been mistreated and tortured during interrogations, and were forced to make false confessions.