Hundreds of outraged Bahrainis commemorate ‘martyred prisoner Barakat’
Hundreds of Bahrainis come out in rage in the capital Manama, commemorating a political prisoner, who died in the ruling Aal-e Khalifah regime’s captivity earlier from COVID-19 pandemic.
The rally was held in the city’s al-Diah area on Wednesday, with almost every peaceful protester holding up a placard that bore the picture of “Martyr Hussein Barakat,” Bahrain’s LuaLua satellite channel reported.
Barakat, a young Shia Muslim, was being kept in the notorious Jau Prison, south of Manama. He had been incarcerated due to his opposition to the regime’s decades-old discrimination and suppression targeting members of the faith that constitute the majority of the population of the tiny Persian Gulf island state.
He lost his life after slipping into a coma due to severe pulmonary infection, the channel reported earlier in the day.
The channel said Barakat passed away amid lack of oxygen and prison authorities’ refusal to allow him temporary medical leave.
The authorities had even stopped short of informing his family about his condition, only bothering to inform his wife after his demise.
The protest rally saw the “furious crowd” condemning the ruling regime’s persisting crimes against hundreds of prisoners of conscience, who have been thrown into jails across the country since 2011.
The jailing spree has pushed Bahraini prisons’ capacities to the maximum amid the coronavirus pandemic and the fatal respiratory conditions that it can lead to.
Apart from mass imprisonment, the crackdown has featured the regime martyred scores of peaceful protesters, outlaw the country’s leading al-Wefaq party, and stripping oppositionists of their Bahraini citizenship.
SS
