Bahrain activist says regime’s kids detention incomparable in world

The high number of detained underage political prisoners in Bahrain is incomparable with other parts of the world, a prominent Bahraini human rights activist tells Press TV.

In a Friday interview, Nabeel Rajab, who was recently freed from jail after serving a two-year term, attested to the presence of hundreds of students and children in prisons, adding, “I do not think you will find any other country than Bahrain that high percentages of children are behind bars.”

He expressed concern over the high percentage of prisoners of conscience in Bahrain and said, “Ninety percent of people in jail in this country, over 90 percent are political prisoners.”

“When I was detained… two years ago there was around 1,500 political prisoners. Today, [there are] over 3,000 political prisoners. When I was detained, in the compound where I was detained there was four to five [jail buildings] but now there are ten buildings,” the activist said.

According to a Thursday report by Bahrain’s main opposition group al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, in the course of 2013 Manama regime forces in the country arrested more than 200 children during raids on homes and schools.

Over the past few years, the Manama regime’s human rights record has come under scrutiny over its handling of the peaceful protests across Bahrain. Since mid-February 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the ruling Al Khalifa family to relinquish power.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others injured in the Manama regime’s heavy-handed crackdown on peaceful demonstrations.