Protesters Call on Bahraini Regime to Deliver Martyr’s Body to Family

People in the Bahraini capital Manama and other cities across the country took to the streets and formed human chains to show their anger at the Western-backed al-Khalifa regime’s refusal to give the body of Mahmoud Issa al-Jazeeri, who was killed in recent anti-regime protests, to his family.

The Bahraini security forces dispersed several groups of protesters who were moving towards Salmaniya Hospital where al-Jazeeri’s body was being kept, al-Wasat newspaper reported.

“Several protests were held in different parts, including al-Balad al-Qadim district where human rights activists and political figures were present in the protests and security forces dispersed them and arrested a protester,” human rights activist Yousef al-Mohafeza said.

Similar protests were held in Aali district, while large groups of women and men formed a human chain in Manama.

The protesters chanted anti-regime slogans and warned the Manama regime to deliver the body of martyr al-Jazeeri to his family.

Yesterday, more than 40 countries in a joint statement voiced their concern over the human rights conditions in Bahrain.

The representatives of 44 countries at the 22nd meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva in a joint statement expressed their worries about the human rights conditions in the tiny Persian Gulf island country of Bahrain.

“We have special concerns about the continuation of restrictions and solitary confinements of those people who exercise their rights of the freedom of thought and freedom expression,” part of the statement read.

“We are also worried about the Bahraini government’s decisions in stripping 31 Bahrainis from their nationalities and also sacking and jailing the Bahraini medical staff,” it added.

The statement also underlined the need for expediting implementation of recommendations of Bassyouni fact-finding committee and also the Human Rights Council’s recommendations on Bahrain with periodic reviews.

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February 2011, calling for an end to the al-Khalifa dynasty’s over-40-year rule, end of discrimination, establishment of justice and a democratically-elected government as well as freedom of detained protesters.

So far, tens of people have been killed, hundreds have gone missing and thousands of others have been injured.

In a recent development, hundreds of thousands of Bahraini protesters took to the streets in the capital Manama and other cities across the Persian Gulf island to mark the second anniversary of their uprising against the Al-Khalifa regime in February 2011, calling on the country’s rulers to step down.

More than 300,000 protesters poured to the streets across the tiny Persian Gulf island country in a bid to celebrate the beginning of the third year of their revolution against the al-Khalifa regime which started on February 14, 2011.

The massive population of protesters reiterated their opposition to dictatorship in the country, and called on the al-Khalifa regime to step down.