News / Persian Gulf

20 escape Bahraini prison, manhunt underway

Saturday, 04 June 2016 8:57 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 04 June 2016 8:58 AM ]

A file photo of Bahraini police officers ©AP

Bahraini regime forces have launched a manhunt for 20 inmates following a jail break at a prison on the island of Muharraq, where the Persian Gulf nation’s main airport is located.

Local authorities offered no details on whether the prisoners who escaped Friday were common criminals or political activists imprisoned for taking part in anti-regime demonstrations.

Reporting on the incident, state newspaper Akhbar Al-Khaleej said “around 20 prisoners” had escaped from the al-Hadd detention center near the Muharraq dry dock Saturday evening.

“They managed to seize a bus and get away after assaulting warders and police and wounding several of them,” added the official daily.

It further reported that police forces set up roadblocks on the causeways linking Muharraq to Bahrain’s main island, where the capital Manama is located.

This is while the Bahraini Interior Ministry later stated that police officers had recaptured some of the escapees without elaborating on how many of them remained at large.

Since February 14, 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous protest rallies on an almost daily basis in the tiny oil-rich nation, calling for the Al Khalifa family to relinquish power.

In March of that year, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to the country to assist the Bahraini government in its brutal crackdown on the peaceful protests.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others injured or arrested during the crackdown.

Amnesty International and many other international rights organizations have frequently censured the Bahraini regime over the “rampant” human rights abuses against opposition activists and anti-regime protesters.

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