Bahrain police beat minors, threatened them with rape: Report

Minors aged 11-17 arrested last month were beaten and threatened with rape and electric shocks, rights groups say.

Bahraini security forces have beaten minors and threatened them with rape and electric shocks after detaining them in protest-related cases last month, the anniversary of a 2011 pro-democracy uprising, rights groups said. A government representative did not comment on the specifics of the accusations in response to a Reuters query, saying in a statement that Bahrain took the protection of human rights “extremely seriously” and had a “zero-tolerance policy” of mistreatment in the justice system. In a joint statement on Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) said about 13 minors aged between 11 and 17 were held in early to mid-February as authorities tried to dissuade protesters from gathering to mark the 10th anniversary of the uprising.