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Bahraini activists say regime forces have arrested prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab in the capital, Manama.
The president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights was arrested upon return from Lebanon at the Bahrain International Airport in the capital on Saturday.
Bahraini authorities have not commented on the reasons behind the detention of Rajab.
The rights activist is a major critic of the Al Khalifa regime. Rajab has played a significant role in anti-regime demonstrations over the past months.
The arrest of Nabeel Rajab comes at a time when Saudi-backed regime forces continue their fierce crackdown on peaceful protests in the country.
Also on Saturday, Bahraini police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse anti-regime demonstrators in the villages of Dair and Samaheej, located on the northern coast of the Muharraq Island.
Bahraini demonstrators hold King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa responsible for the death of protesters during the popular uprising that began in February 2011.
On May 3, the Bahraini monarch ratified amendments to the constitution, claiming the “doors remain open to dialogue, which is aimed at achieving a national accord.”
According to the ratified amendments, the Bahraini king has to consult the heads of the elected parliament and the appointed consultative council, which was introduced in 2002, before dissolving the government.
However, the main Bahraini opposition group, al-Wefaq, has dismissed the amendments.
Abdul Jalil Khalil, a senior member of al-Wefaq, said after the amendments were ratified the king “remains the one to appoint and dismiss the government.”
The opposition wants “a single-chamber parliament that is elected, just as the constitution of 1973 stipulated. These amendments do not abolish the consultative council,” Khalil added.
