Bahrain Detainees Complain of Torture, Humiliation

Three leading Bahraini opposition activists, who face up to life in jail, tell the court of how they are tortured in custody.

European Phoenix -- The three clerics Abduljalil Muqdad and Saeed Mirza Mahroos, and the head of Waed group, Ibrahim Sharif – all demanded that they be freed.

"They all complained of torture during detention," said a member of the defense team, requesting not to be identified.

Sharif gave a lengthy account of the torture he said he endured along with other detainees after he was arrested on March 17 last year, in the wake of a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

"We were made to stand in a line, blindfolded. I had to go through a complete body search after they stripped us naked," he told the court, according to Radhi al-Mosawi, his deputy for political affairs at Waed, who tweeted Sharif's account on Twitter.

Sharif told the court that the torture "continued for weeks... including beating, kicking," and that masked men spat at him and insulted and humiliated him, Mosawi tweeted.

Also on trial is activist Abdulhadi Khawaja who ended a 110-day hunger strike last week. He did not appear in court.