Bahraini rights groups slam use of torture by authority against dissent

Three Bahraini human rights groups have slammed the Gulf Monarchy’s National Security Agency (NSA) for its systematic use of torture against all citizens, including activists and human rights defenders.

Three Bahraini human rights groups have slammed the Gulf Monarchy’s National Security Agency (NSA) for its systematic use of torture against all citizens, including activists and human rights defenders.

The Gulf Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, the Bahrain Forum for Human Rights and Salam for Democracy and Human Rights said in a joint report, entitled “Chambers of Death”, on Tuesday that the “repressive” agency had intensified its targeting of dissenting civilians since the beginning of this year.

It also said both the NSA, founded in 2002, and its predecessor, the General Directorate for State Security Investigations, established in 1966, have been employing excessive force against people since their creation in the country.

The NSA adopted these extreme measures in order to “increase its authority and use it to carry out systematic torture, and also to intimidate the general population with inhumane methods,” said Javad Firooz, the chairman of the Salam for Democracy and Human Rights group, in the report.