HRW Accuses Bahrain of 'Violent Repression'

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday accused Bahrain of carrying out a "campaign of violent oppression" against its citizens and called for an end to abuses.

Pro-reform protesters took to the streets of Bahrain on February 14, but security forces crushed the demonstrations a month later in a bloody crackdown followed by sweeping arrests.

The authorities said 24 were killed in the unrest.

"The Bahrain government, since March 2011, has been carrying out a punitive and vindictive campaign of violent repression against its own citizens," HRW said in a statement.

"Bahrain has brutally punished those protesting peacefully for greater freedom and accountability while the U.S. and other allies looked the other way," HRW's deputy Middle East director, Joe Stork, was quoted as saying.

HRW called on "the Bahrain government to end unlawful and incommunicado detention, to free protesters unless legitimate criminal charges can be brought against them, and to allow monitoring by independent human rights organizations."

The New York-based rights watchdog said it has been prevented from working in Bahrain since April.

Its latest report on Bahrain, which was released on Tuesday, offers sharp criticism of the kingdom's conduct, placing it in the same class as Syria, Libya and long-time strongman Hosni Mubarak's Egypt -- all of which have carried out violent campaigns to suppress pro-reform protesters.

"Bahrain's ruling al-Khalifa family has been carrying out a systematic and comprehensive crackdown to punish and intimidate government critics and to end dissent," it said.

The report also raised doubts about the potential of a national dialogue, the first session of which was held on Tuesday evening.

"The ruling family has stacked the deck in a way that unfortunately makes a resolution (through the dialogue) highly unlikely," it said.

"In place of Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, the original proponent of the dialogue, King Hamad has appointed the speaker of the parliament, a proponent of the government crackdown, to convene and direct it.

"Leading opposition figures essential to any successful dialogue have been sentenced to prison or are facing special military court trials simply for participating in peaceful demonstrations and criticizing the government, and even legally recognized opposition parties have been completely marginalized."

Al-Wefaq, the main Shiite opposition group in Shiite-majority Bahrain, has been allowed five representatives out of some 300 people invited to the dialogue, despite having won 18 out of 40 seats in recent parliamentary elections.

The bloc withdrew its MPs to protest violence against demonstrators.