Bahraini group call US, Western countries to pressure Manama releasing all political prisoners

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The Bahrain Center for Human Rights has called on the United States and other Western allies of the Bahraini regime to pressure Manama into releasing all political prisoners.The human rights group said the inmates had been subjected to arbitrary arrests with political motives and held following unjust trials in regime prisons.The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) on Monday that she was frustrated with reports of human rights violations in Bahrain.“I regret to report that the human rights situation in Bahrain remains an issue of serious concern,” she said, adding, “The deep polarization of society and the harsh clampdown on human rights defenders and peaceful protesters continue to make a durable solution more difficult to secure.”“I reiterate my call on Bahrain to fully comply with its international human rights commitments, including respect for the rights to freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, and association,” Pillay also said.The human rights record of the Manama regime has come under scrutiny over its handling of anti-regime protests that erupted across the Arab country in early 2011.Bahrainis demanded political reform and a constitutional monarchy, a demand that later changed to an outright call for the ouster of the ruling Al Khalifa family following its brutal crackdown on popular protests. /129