Bahrain deports US activists arrested in crackdown before anti-govt uprising anniversary

Bahrain has deported two female American activists to New York after arresting them as part of a security crackdown ahead of the first anniversary of the anti-government uprising in the country.

According to Bahraini officials and activists, the two women, identified as Huwaida Arraf and Radhika Sainath, were accused of aiding anti-government activists after entering on tourist visas.

Sainath said she was targeted by a group of female officers at the demonstration near the former Pearl roundabout.

"They accused me of filming illegally and demanded ID. Once they had it they said that's her," The Telegraph quoted Sainath, as saying.

According to the paper, the women were showing solidarity on the eve of the first anniversary of protests led mainly by the Shia majority for democratic reforms in the Gulf Arab state.

The paper quoted an official, as saying that they were deported for giving false information about their trips on entering the country.

The advocacy group Witness Bahrain said both Arraf and Sainath are human rights lawyers, and they were in the Middle Eastern country as part of an effort to have more civilians from different nations on the ground to monitor the situation. (ANI)