Bahrain Mirror: The Bahraini authorities prevented on Saturday (June 18, 2016) member of the Bahrain Observatory for Human Rights, human rights activist Abdulnabi Al-Ekri from leaving the country.

This measure comes days after a national delegation was banned from leaving the kingdom to take part in the 32nd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Bahrain has launched a heavy crackdown on the opposition in the past week. The authorities have arrested prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab, closed down the largest opposition group in the country, Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, froze all the society's assets and halted all its activities, suspended two Shiite religious societies; the Islamic Enlightenment (Tawiya) and Al-Risala, and summoned a large number of Shiite clerics.

Arabic Version