“Bahrain has displaced the problem of torture and police brutality from inside police stations to the point of arrest and transfer to police stations. This abuse contradicts one of the most important recommendations of the independent commission and shows why investigations and prosecutions of abusers to the highest level are essential to stopping these practices,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
HRW said it has based its report on interviews with 14 young males, including seven children, and that visible injury marks appeared to confirm details of the accounts given by former detainees. It said five of the beatings had happened in April alone.
Also on Sunday, Bahraini activists said that the 13-year-old Sayed Yasin Abduljalil, who had been arrested on April 27 for taking part in an anti-regime street gathering in a village south of the capital, Manama, was "beaten and tortured" at a police station where he is still being held.
A Bahraini juvenile judge has issued a detention order until Thursday against Sayed Yasin.
