Bahraini death row inmate tortured: Amnesty

A Bahraini detainee sentenced to death earlier this year for allegedly forming a "terror" cell was tortured behind bars, Amnesty International said on Friday. 

Ali al-Arab and another Bahraini man were sentenced to death by a criminal court on January 31 in a mass terrorism trial that saw dozens more sentenced to lengthy jail terms and stripped of citizenship. 

"According to information received by Amnesty International, Ali Mohamed Hakeem al-Arab was tortured upon transfer to Jaw prison," outside of the capital Manama, the rights watchdog said.

Amnesty said it had information that Al-Arab may have been tortured every night for around one week. 

Al-Arab and the second convict, both Shia Muslims, were found guilty of forming a "terror" cell, facilitating a jailbreak, travelling to Iraq and Iran for military training and engaging in a gun battle with police.

The Gulf kingdom has been rocked by anti-government protests since 2011 and has cracked down on all dissent, jailing hundreds in cases slammed by rights groups as failing to meet the standards of a fair trial. 

Bahrain, a key US ally governed by a Sunni monarchy, accuses Iran of inciting protests among its Shia citizens, which make up the majority of the population. 

Tehran denies the accusations.

Earlier this month, Bahrain arrested 116 people and accused them of belonging to a terror cell of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, AP reported.

Police and security services thwarted a number of attacks amid the arrests and officials reportedly seized arms and explosives from the detainees, according to the state-run Bahrain News Agency.

The Ministry of Interior said in a statement that the suspects planned to "target Bahraini officials, members of the security authorities and vital oil installations with the objective of disturbing public security and harming the national economy".