TEHRAN (Iran News) – Rights groups slammed Al-Khalifa arresting female activists and their mistreatment in prisons.

A recent report, Breaking the Silence: Bahraini Women Political Prisoners Expose Systemic Abuses, outlines the cases of nine former and current female prisoners in Bahrain throughout the process of their arrests and trials, as well as the conditions of their detentions, Al Jazeera reported.

The report was formally launched last month, and was the subject of a Washington, DC, event on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

The report, conducted by the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) found that the women were arrested without search warrants and were subjected to physical, psychological and sexual assaults during interrogation. Coerced confessions were used as evidence to convict them.

The 138-page report found that six of the women were convicted under terrorism-related charges. Bridget Quitter, Legal Officer at ADHRB said the women were targeted as part of a concerted state effort to crack down on free speech.

“These women were targeted for their opinions or those of their relatives,” Quitter said during the panel event in Washington, DC.

“And they were subjected to rights violations from the moment of their arrest, through their interrogation and torture, unfair trials and detention in conditions which fail to meet international standards,” Quitter said.

Of the nine women, three – Hajer Mansoor, Medina Alia and Zakeya AlBarboori – are still detained in Isa Town women’s prison, where, according to the report, they continue to be subjected to punitive measures, including lack of access to medical care. The other six women have been released after serving prison sentences.

The rights groups called on Al-Khalifa arresting female activists to release the three remaining female prisoners and urged the US to halt arms sales and security cooperation with the regime.

“The responses we obtained demonstrated that Bahrain has created a system which whitewashes and conceals human rights abuses,” Quitter said.

“The ill-treatment and torture, coercive interrogation tactics, unfair trial, substandard conditions of detention are not merely coincidental, but part of a systematic repression of the Bahraini population.”