BAHRAIN: Crackdown continues, opposition and human rights groups say [Video]

While regional attention is riveted by the ongoing unrest in Libya, Syria and Yemen, the government of Bahrain has been left in relative peace by the international community to continue its crackdown against the anti-government protest movement there, human rights groups say.

"The last few nights they been raiding houses and beating and arresting people," Nabeel Rajab, the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, told Babylon & Beyond, adding that approximately 400 people are either missing or in custody. 

"Some people were also arrested at checkpoints controlled by thugs brought in from other Arab and Asian countries -- they wear black masks in the streets," Ragab said.

Saudi and other Gulf Arab security forces entered Bahrain at the invitation of the government two weeks ago, and activists claim additional muscle has been brought in from Pakistan and possibly other Asian countries.

Ragab accused security forces and the army of targeting Bahraini Shiites, who constitute a majority in the country and have made up the bulk of the opposition movement. The Sunni-dominated government and ruling family are backed by the United States, whose Fifth Fleet is stationed in Bahrain. Twenty-four  people have been killed in clashes between police and demonstrators since the protest movement erupted on Feb. 14, the government said Tuesday.

The video featured above was posted on YouTube and claims to show a masked Saudi soldier destroying a Shiite religious banner in Bahrain.

Another video posted by the same user claims to show a Bahraini demonstrator being arrested. Neither video could be verified.

"The government says it is taking steps to ensure stability and security, but what's happening is the exact opposite. We're in one of the most dangerous stages, where citizens have no security," Mattar Ibrahim Mattar, a member of the country's largest Shiite opposition group Wefaq, told Reuters.

The New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch released a report on Wednesday in which it accused Bahraini security forces of beating and detaining wounded protesters, and even of denying some live-saving treatment.

"Since the Bahraini Defense Force (BDF) took over the country's largest public medical facility on March 16, 2011, security and military forces have sought out and threatened, beaten and detained patients injured by teargas, rubber bullets, birdshot pellets, and live ammunition," the report said. "These patients also have been removed from hospitals or forcibly transferred to other medical facilities, often against medical advice."

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

Video: Footage posted to YouTube claims to show a Saudi soldier destroying a Shiite religious banner. Credit: YouTube.

Comments

[ali ahmed]

I am a Bahraini and I support all measures taken by the Government to maintain security and stability of the country against terrorists and against those criminals terrorizing innocents in the country and no doubt they are backed by foreign countries (Iran)

The government should punish those clients to Iran has destroyed our lives safe

[i want to live ........]

i am not part of what happened in Bahrain since the 14 Feb2011
but i live in Bahrain

(Bahrain gov said protesters have weapons and they follow Iran - they meant all the protester went on the street)

they were 600,000 human according to BBC
i am Bahraini i have never heard that story before
600,000 human have a secret no body knew???? but Bahrain gov????
and they are dieing since 14 FEB till today!!!!! but no weapon fired on police ????

PLZ
now it is not about what they want or who is wrong
it is about stop killing us we want to live is that hard ????
stop storming us with tear gas,rabbar bullets and shotguns every night
while there was protesters in Manama i did not like it.but i was safe
now there are armies in Manama and i do not feel safe any more

[Hussein]

what happen in Bahrain is more than what you see from those videos because they arrest everyone who take photo. In Bahrain if u just left your home you have to kiss everyone in your family because not sure if you return back or not.

[BunniesGuns]

FYI - you might want to get the opinion of balanced, unbiased professionals if you want to be respected as a newspaper. You might also want to run a basic fact check considering Saudi forces never engaged and the picture above is of the Bahraini National Guard. Also all illegal posters and banners posted on Public property were simply removed. The government allowed it for years but its goes against Municipal regulations. Like the US, we too believe it or not have municipal regulations. Again if you are interested in proper coverage you might want to consider varying your sources and basic due diligence. Journalistic integrity should be a higher priority that flamboyant headlines. Peace from Bahrain where more people than just Nabeel Rajab and Al Wefaq actually live.

[Manal]

Please Help us they are killing us. We are afraid to go out but even staying at home isn't safe. Help Help :(

[Salman Mohammed]

I'm a doctor and have seen the violence of the protests first hand in the emergency room. The current arrests and investigations are targeted on the few hundred militants who have dragged this country into a sectarian conflict.

With the security forces in place people are back in school, offices, and shopping centers. However both Sunnis and shites have lost trust in each other.
These events have caused a deep cut between the shite and Sunni sects. The security forces has cauterized the bleeders, dialogue will suture the two sects together, but alas a large disfiguring scar will remain.

[salem saleh]

it is really shame on US, what is happening in Bahrain is unbelievable, innocent people are killed for nothing, I have seen some photos, it is really inhuman government, but US has a double standard.

[Mime]

It's impossible to ignore blatant hypocrisy and double standard from the U.S.
So it's not really about human rights, democracy, protecting civilians, ... etc.??
The U.S. bombs Libya but NO bombs rain down on Bahrain when civilian protesters marching for democracy are been killed by Bahrain's despot.

[asma haroon]

Silence of the U.S. administration on the suppression of unarmed demonstrators by the Government of Bahrain is not surprising
Because Bahrain staunch ally of America and A Fifth Fleet there.
While in Libya, no oil dripped saliva of the Department

[ali]

US supports Saudi occupation forces in Bahrain. Shame on US