Bahraini anti-regime protesters burn US flag in Manama

Bahraini anti-government protesters have held a demonstration in the capital, burning the US flag and condemning Washington’s support for the Manama regime. Demonstrators took to the streets in the Ras Rumman neighborhood of Manama on Wednesday. They also blocked the streets by setting fire to tires. The US State Department said on May 11 that Washington will resume arms sales to Bahrain. However, Bahraini opposition groups and activists condemned the decision, saying it could encourage further human rights violations in the Persian Gulf country. On May 21, Bahraini protesters held similar demonstrations in several villages near Manama, carrying placards that read, “Death to America” and “Down with King Hamad,” referring to the Bahraini monarch. Meanwhile, the 13th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of rights records of 14 countries, including Bahrain, started in Geneva on May 21 and is scheduled to continue through June 4. The UN rights council called on the Bahraini government to release political prisoners, including prominent rights activists Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on a hunger strike for more than three months, and Nabeel Rajab. Khawaja, who holds dual Danish and Bahraini nationality, was given a life sentence in a military court in June 2011 over accusations of inciting protests against the Manama regime. Rajab, who is the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, was arrested upon return from Lebanon at the Bahrain International Airport in Manama on May 5. He is accused of participating in an anti-regime demonstration in the capital in January and publishing on Twitter messages the regime considered “insulting.”