A funeral in a Bahraini village of a man who died in police custody has ended with police using teargas and stun grenades to disperse the crowd that engaged them with stones and petrol bombs, according to the authorities.
The Shiite village of Daih was holding a funeral for a
23-year-old Mohammed Jaafar who died in custody, after being
accused of smuggling weapons. His death is the second in 2014 of
a person held on security-related charges. The main opposition
al-Wefaq group said that the young man was denied medical
treatment in custody, while one activist said he had been
tortured, Reuters reports. The accusations have been denied by
the authorities.
Following the funeral, scuffles with police erupted. The people
started throwing rocks, metal rods and reportedly petrol bombs at
the police who used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the
crowd. No casualties have so far been reported.
“Police dispersed a breakaway group of vandals that diverted
from the funeral route in Daih,” the Interior Ministry said
in its tweet.
Bahrain recently marked the third anniversary of the uprising
that had seen numerous human rights violations by the government
and wide social discontent of the majority Shia population with
the minority ruling Sunni monarchy.
In February the king of Bahrain signed a bill imposing a 7-year
jail sentence and a fine of up to 10,000 dinars ($26,500) for
those who insult him. This followed July’s measure of
indefinitely banning demonstrations, sit-ins or public gatherings
in the capital.
The Gulf Island, the base for the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, has
faced increasing criticism over its human rights violation in the
past three years, where at least 89 people have been killed since
the launch of the uprising, according to the International
Federation for Human Rights.