'Bahraini royal family tortures detainees'

This article was published yesterday on PressTV

Bahraini poetess Ayat al-Qurmezi says some members of the ruling Al Khalifa family have personally tortured anti-regime protesters in jails.

"There is no doubt about the government's official supervision over the torture, even some members of the ruling family personally take part in torturing detainees," she said in an interview with Al-Alam news channel on Wednesday. 

Al-Qurmezi noted that some detainees have been killed under torture. 

She was arrested on March 30 after being caught on film reading poems critical of Bahrain's ruling regime to a group of protesters at Pearl Square in the capital Manama. 

The 20-year-old poetess was released on July 13, but her sentence has not been revoked. She is currently under house arrest. 

She said that beating and electronic shocks are the most common ways of torturing in Bahrain's prisoners. 

In the latest development on Wednesday, Bahraini forces once again attacked peaceful protesters in several villages and towns surrounding the capital including Nuwaidrat, Sanabis, Eker, and Sitra. 

Anti-regime protesters have been holding demonstrations across the country since mid-February, calling on the Al Khalifa ruling family to relinquish power.