Security forces in Bahrain have attacked anti-regime protesters in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom, as the ruling Al-Khalifa continues its crackdown on the opposition.
Regime troops fired tear gas and bird shot at the protesters who gathered on Tuesday to commemorate the death of 14-year-old Seyed Mahmood Seyed Mohsen.
The teenager was killed last week during a demonstration in the village of Sitra, south of the capital Manama.
The pro-democracy demonstrators chanted slogans against the ruling family and called for an end to the regime’s brutal crackdown.
Scores of Bahrainis have been killed and hundreds of others injured and arrested in the ongoing crackdown on peaceful demonstrations.
Rights bodies have on various occasions slammed the Bahraini regime for using excessive force against peaceful protests.
On May 23, Amnesty International urged Bahraini authorities to launch an impartial probe into the death of the teenage boy. The group also called on Manama to investigate all cases of torture, ill-treatment and deaths that occurred during protests and in custody.
Amnesty charged Manama with whitewashing the cases in which the security forces were accused of killing protesters.
In another statement issued on May 19, the rights group voiced concerns over the lack of reform of the judiciary in the kingdom.
The group criticized the country for “slow and inadequate investigations” into past human rights abuses and “continuing restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly.”
Since mid-February 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations on the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa family to relinquish power.
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