Bahrain: arrest and torture of children routine, says Amnesty

Children flash the victory sign during an opposition gathering in Bahrain (archive)

(by Alessandra Antonelli) (ANSAmed) - DUBAI - Bahrain routinely arrests and tortures minors, Amnesty International said Monday in its new report on young dissidents in the oil emirate.

Scores of young protesters, some as young as 13, have been blindfolded, beaten, tortured, and threatened with rape while in detention over the past two years, the human rights watchdog alleged. Currently, at least 110 minors are behind bars in Dry Dock adult prison on Muharraq Island. They are either in pretrial detention or awaiting formal charges. Most of them are being detained on suspicion of taking part in ''unauthorized gatherings'' and protests, burning tires or throwing Molotov cocktails at police, Amnesty said.

''By detaining minors, Bahraini authorities are showing an incredible disrespect towards their own commitments to human rights'', commented Amnesty International Deputy Director for MENA Said Aboumedouah. Bahrain is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which defines a child as anyone under 18, and which explicitly forbids torture and other degrading or inhumane treatment of minors. Bahrain has a majority Shiite population ruled by a minority Sunni monarchy. The frictions between the two exploded on a grand scale during the Arab Spring revolts of February 2011 as Shiites took to the streets to demand more democracy and an end to discrimination. Authorities brutally repressed the protests, leading to the deaths of 40 people, four of them police. The ensuing wave of mass arrests and abuses attracted international scrutiny, resulting in a partial mea culpa by authorities and a dialogue for national reconciliation, which has so far not had concrete results.

''Three years ago security forces used excessive force to quell anti-government protests, and now we are seeing a new wave of repression against children'', Aboumedouah said.

Amnesty International called on Bahrain to put in place alternative sanctions against minors if they are found guilty of offenses that are recognized as such under international standards. (ANSAmed).