Demos staged in Bahrain in solidarity with jailed activists

People took to the streets of Bahrain to show their solidarity with political activists jailed by the Al Khalifa regime. The protesters staged demonstrations in several cities as they were chanting anti-regime slogans and carrying photos of their leaders on Wednesday, press tv reported. Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry's watchdog announced that the Persian Gulf country’s main prison has become overcrowded. The watchdog inspectors visited Jaw prison from September 3 to September 5 and released a report afterwards. "We visited seven different buildings in the prison that has the capacity to accommodate 1,201 inmates, but was actually housing 1,608 prisoners," said Nawaf al-Ma'awada, the watchdog’s secretary-general, at a press conference in the capital Manama. The watchdog, which made the visit to check the human rights and health care conditions there, noted that the wards had a low standard of cleanliness. "We have come out with a list of recommendations for the Interior Ministry to follow up as we intend to continue to inspect other facilities, including the women prison," the report said. On Friday, a demonstration was held in the village of al-Muqsha following the detention of Khalil al-Marzooq, the spokesman for the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, Bahrain's main opposition party. Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have staged numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power. On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on the peaceful protesters. According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested. Physicians for Human Rights says doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, or disappeared because they have "evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces, and riot police" in the crackdown on anti-government protesters.