MANAMA (Dispatches) – Bahraini regime forces have arrested more a dozen pro-democracy protesters as they participated in rallies across the Persian Gulf kingdom to mark the twelfth anniversary of the 2011 popular uprising against the ruling Al Khalifah regime.
The Ministry of Interior announced in a statement that at least 16 people were detained in recent days, accusing the suspects of participation in what it described as unlawful acts and practices, and alleged they were planning to cause “chaos and vandalism.”
The development came days after hackers took down the websites of Bahrain’s international airport and local news websites.
A statement posted online by a group calling itself Al Toufan, the Arabic word for “The Storm”, claimed to have hacked the airport website, which was unavailable for at least half an hour in the middle of the day.
It also claimed to have taken down the websites of the state-run Bahrain News Agency, which was unavailable at midday, and the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce, which was taken down in the afternoon before access was later restored.
The group said the hacking was “in support of the revolution of our oppressed people of Bahrain.”
The same group appears to have hacked and changed articles on the news website of Akhbar al-Khaleej, a pro-regime newspaper in Bahrain. The newspaper’s website was still down on Thursday morning.
On Monday evening, Bahrain’s most prominent cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim said the anniversary of the country’s 2011 popular uprising against the ruling Al Khalifah regime is an occasion to renew allegiance to changing the black history of the Persian Gulf country.
Speaking at a ceremony in the holy Iranian city of Qom on the eve of the February 14 Revolution, Sheikh Qassim called on Bahrainis to double down on their efforts for change.
He censured the Manama regime for marginalizing Bahraini people, clampdown on seminaries and religious schools, and attempting to Judaize the Arab nation.
The senior cleric slammed the flagrant violation of the rights of political opponents and pro-democracy campaigners, who are incarcerated at the Bahraini regime’s jails and detention centers.
He said some of those who have been released from prison are either physically disabled or have been mentally tortured.
Anti-monarchy demonstrations began on February 14, 2011, and have been held on a regular basis ever since the popular uprising started.
Demonstrators demand that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power, and a democratic, just system representing all Bahrainis be established.
The ruthless Manama regime, however, has responded to demands for social equality with an iron fist, clamping down on voices of dissent.
In March 2017, Bahrain’s parliament approved the trial of opposition civilians at military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being tantamount to the imposition of an undeclared martial law.
The monarch, King Hamad, ratified the constitutional amendment in April 2017, bringing about further suppression of political dissent on the tiny Persian Gulf Island under the strong influence of the Saudi regime.