Middle East News

Two Bahraini protesters die in police custody

Apr 9, 2011, 19:58 GMT

Manama, Bahrain - Bahraini authorities said Saturday two protestors have died in separate incidents, marking the third time in a week that opposition detainees have died in custody.

Ali Isa Saqer, 31, died before reaching the hospital, the Interior Ministry said.

Saqer, who was being held for attempted murder of policemen he allegedly tried to run-over on during unrest on March 13, was unruly inside the detention centre and the use of force was required, the ministry said.

The statement did not clarify if other detainees were involved or injured in Saqer incident.

Another detainee, Zakria Rashid al-Asherri, 40, was the second detainee to be declared dead by the authorities. According to the statement, he was discovered inside his cell and an autopsy attributed the death to complications caused by sickle cell anaemia.

Al-Asherri, who was the supervisor of Al-Dair website and the brother of a former member of parliament for the largest Shiite opposition grouping al-Wefaq, Ali al-Asherri, was arrested last April 2 for inciting hatred of toward regime and for calling for its overthrow online.

On April 3 Hassan Jassim Maki, 39, was the first to be declared dead in police custody. Police attributed his death to a sickle cell anemeia condition, while his relatives accused police of torture and medical neglect.

The small Gulf island remains under a continued security crackdown that began following pro-reforms protests on February 14, which led to the deaths of more then 21 people and the arrests of more than 400.

In recent days Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Doctors Without Borders along with other rights groups have sharply criticized the government crackdown.

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