Rights activists from across the world have attended a conference held in a show of solidarity with Bahraini revolutionaries in the Spanish capital, Madrid.
Head of the Bahrain Freedom Movement, Saeed al-Shehabi
A large number of civil and human rights activists took part in the conference to share the pains of those Bahraini families that have lost their loved ones in the brutal crackdown on protesters by Manama's Saudi-backed security forces, a Press TV correspondent reported on Saturday.
Bahraini activists at the conference descried the cruelty of the Saudi-backed regime forces and atrocities they have committed against anti-government protesters in the capital Manama and elsewhere in the country.
Director of Bahrain Freedom Movement Saeed al-Shehabi, who was among the participants in the conference, said, “Several journalists are in jail, several lawyers are in jail, doctors are in jail, nurses are in jail, poets are in jail -- so this is what we have.”
Since mid-February, thousands of anti-government demonstrators in Bahrain have staged regular protests in the streets, calling for the al-Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.
They, however, were faced with an iron fist and a brutal repression that culminated in mid-March, when Saudi-led forces from neighboring Arab states were dispatched to the Persian Gulf island upon Manama's request for help in suppressing the flaring protests.
According to local sources, dozens of people have been killed and hundreds more arrested during the Saudi-backed clampdown on peaceful demonstrations, while Bahraini security forces have reportedly kidnapped a number of women, including doctors, university professors and students.
Human rights groups and the families of protesters arrested during the crackdown say that most detainees have been physically and mentally abused and that the whereabouts of many of them remain unknown.
The brutal crackdown on civilians by the Saudi-backed Bahraini security forces finally drew criticism from the UK-based Amnesty International and the US-based Human Rights Watch.
On Wednesday, a military court in Bahrain sentenced eight opposition activists to life imprisonment for "plotting to overthrow the ruling system." Thirteen other activists received sentences of up to 15 years in prison on similar charges. Seven people were sentenced in absentia.
In a letter to Bahraini King Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has expressed her concerns about the heavy jail sentences handed down against 21 anti-government activists.
The rulings, she said, bear the marks of "political persecution."
Bahraini activists at the conference descried the cruelty of the Saudi-backed regime forces and atrocities they have committed against anti-government protesters in the capital Manama and elsewhere in the country.
Director of Bahrain Freedom Movement Saeed al-Shehabi, who was among the participants in the conference, said, “Several journalists are in jail, several lawyers are in jail, doctors are in jail, nurses are in jail, poets are in jail -- so this is what we have.”
Since mid-February, thousands of anti-government demonstrators in Bahrain have staged regular protests in the streets, calling for the al-Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.
They, however, were faced with an iron fist and a brutal repression that culminated in mid-March, when Saudi-led forces from neighboring Arab states were dispatched to the Persian Gulf island upon Manama's request for help in suppressing the flaring protests.
According to local sources, dozens of people have been killed and hundreds more arrested during the Saudi-backed clampdown on peaceful demonstrations, while Bahraini security forces have reportedly kidnapped a number of women, including doctors, university professors and students.
Human rights groups and the families of protesters arrested during the crackdown say that most detainees have been physically and mentally abused and that the whereabouts of many of them remain unknown.
The brutal crackdown on civilians by the Saudi-backed Bahraini security forces finally drew criticism from the UK-based Amnesty International and the US-based Human Rights Watch.
On Wednesday, a military court in Bahrain sentenced eight opposition activists to life imprisonment for "plotting to overthrow the ruling system." Thirteen other activists received sentences of up to 15 years in prison on similar charges. Seven people were sentenced in absentia.
In a letter to Bahraini King Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has expressed her concerns about the heavy jail sentences handed down against 21 anti-government activists.
The rulings, she said, bear the marks of "political persecution."
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