Bahrain detain Shiite schoolgirls, teachers

Empowered by a 6-week-old state of emergency, the Sunni minority government of Bahrain has arrested scores of Shiite women teachers and schoolgirls, held them for days in prison and subjected them to physical and verbal abuse, according to victims, human-rights advocates and a former member of parliament.

In the fast-expanding systematic mistreatment of Shiites here, some observers say the red line will be sexual abuse, a step that if taken could provoke violence between the Muslim sects..

At least 150 women have been arrested, and at least 17 remain in custody, according to al-Wefaq, the moderate Shiite political organization. Nabeel Rajab, president of the independent Bahrain Center for Human Rights, thinks the number is much higher.

Yasmeen, 16 — McClatchy is withholding her real name to protect her from retribution — was ordered from her school April 26 and held three days with four other teenage girls. She said that on the drive to police headquarters, police threatened to rape them and said they were not true Muslims.

She said a police interrogator accused her of being a "muta," or "temporary wife" and of walking on a picture of Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the Sunni king of this small Gulf island state.

The king Sunday announced he would lift emergency rule two weeks early on June 1, hours after the start of a closed-door trial of activists, in what appeared to be a bid to display confidence that authorities have smothered an uprising similar to those in Tunisia and Egypt that have swept the Arab world.

The political turmoil forced Bahrain to call off the March 13 Bahrain Grand Prix auto race. Last week, Formula One's governing body gave Bahrain until June 3 to decide if a new date could be set for this year.