Bahrain police threatened detained children with rape, electric shocks: Rights Group

Bahraini security forces have beaten children and threatened them with rape and electric shock, United Nations (UN) Human Rights Watch has said. All the children facing the horrendous treatment were detained last month, for participating in a protest to mark the 10 year anniversary of the country's democratic uprising. Bahrain, a small island state in the middle east, has often come under scrutiny for its authoritarian rule under King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and its “zero-tolerance” policy towards pro-democratic protests. 

Meanwhile, HRW along with London based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) released a joint statement stating the torturous treatment that was meted out to children as young as 11 years of age. As per their report, nearly 13 children aged between 11 and 17 years were arrested in early to mid-February as authorities tried to dissuade protesters to gather later in the month. 

Furthermore, they cited five children, all detained mid-February, stating that police officials not only beat and assaulted them but also threatened to give them electric shocks from the car battery. Additionally, another official reportedly hit a 13-year-old and threatened to rape him. 

“A police officer who threatens a 13-year-old with rape or electric shocks from a car battery is an abominable stain on Bahrain’s reputation. Bahraini police officers treated children as enemies who must be terrorized into confessing, while prosecutors and judges shut parents and lawyers out of proceedings, Sayed Ahmed AlWadaei, advocacy director at BIRD was quoted as saying in the report. 

Four still remain in custody

Currently, four of the children remain in detention, including a 16-year-old with a serious medical condition, New York-based HRW and BIRD said in the statement. Police officials have arrested children based on accusations of vandalism, burning tires, planting fake bombs,  blocking roads amongst other things. Bahrain’s US-backed, Sunni Muslim monarchy used force to suppress the 2011 uprising, led mostly by the Shi’ite Muslim community and cracked down on sporadic unrest and dissent later. It was the only Gulf state to experience one of the “Arab Spring” uprisings a decade ago.

Image credits: Associated Press