5,000 prisoners in Bahraini regime’s detention

MANAMA: An independent human rights group says it has documented the arrest of more than 5,000 prisoners of conscience in addition to 200 victims of excessive use of force, murder and torture in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom, as the ruling Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy clampdown on political dissidents and pro-democracy activists.

The head of the Bahrain Centre for Dialogue and Tolerance, Sheikh Maytham al-Salman, said in a statement on Saturday during a conference held in Lebanese capital Beirut that “human rights as well as civil and political situation in Bahrain have deteriorated.” Continued deterioration of the human rights situation in Bahrain is taking place amid silence from the international community, including the United Kingdom and the United States of America,” Salman added.