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A prominent Bahraini human rights activist has told Amnesty International how he was injured when security forces attacked peaceful protesters in Manama on Friday evening.

Nabeel Rajab, the director of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was hospitalized after a group of police punched him and used truncheons to beat him in the face, back and elsewhere.

The attack happened near Rajab's car after riot police had fired tear gas at protesters marching along Manama’s Bab al-Bahrain Street to call for the release of political prisoners.

“I fell on the ground but they continued to beat me – they even stamped on me and kicked me,” Nabeel Rajab told Amnesty International after being treated for his injuries at Salmaniya hospital late on Friday night.

“This went on for a few minutes and then a senior officer recognized me and intervened. He asked the others to stop and he helped me. I was taken to Salmaniya hospital, where I was treated for about three hours. I have a lot of bruises on my back and on my face.”

Nabeel Rajab told Amnesty International he intends to file an official complaint about the assault.

On Saturday, the state-run Bahrain News Agency issued a statement in response to the incident, linking to a video of the demonstration which they claim shows that Nabeel Rajab wasn’t seriously injured.

In the video, Rajab can be seen seated on the ground before being helped to an ambulance by police, but the footage does not show how he sustained his injuries.

The human rights defender had been participating in a large, peaceful march along Manama’s Bab al-Bahrain Street, calling for the release of political prisoners being held in relation to pro-reform protests that began in February 2011.

Security forces responded to the march and, when protesters ignored orders to disperse, they broke up the crowd by firing tear gas.

Amnesty International said the security forces in Bahrain unnecessarily used force when they fired tear gas to disperse the protesters, despite government pledges to implement reforms recommended in November, when a team of international jurists published a key report on the crackdown on protests.

The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry – chaired by Egyptian jurist Cherif Bassiouni – prescribed wide-ranging change that included decriminalizing public gatherings. 

“The Bahraini security forces’ ongoing violent attacks on peaceful protesters fly in the face of official pledges to make amends and to implement the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry’s recommendations,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director at Amnesty International.

“Attacks on human rights defenders and peaceful protesters must not be tolerated, and those responsible for Friday’s violence must be held accountable for their actions.”

Ali al-Ghanami joins the protesters, 17 February 2011

A military court in Bahrain has sentenced a policeman to more than 12 years in jail for joining protests against the royal family last year.

Ali al-Ghanami, a 25-year-old junior police officer, had left his guard post and joined protesters on 17 February 2011 after security forces had cleared a major traffic circle in the capital Manama.

On that day police action against peaceful demonstrators at Pearl Roundabout left two protesters dead and more than a hundred injured.

Video footage from the day shows people being fired on with birdshot at point blank range. The footage was supplied by activists.

His brother told the BBC Mr Ghanami witnessed dead and wounded being taken to nearby Salmaniya hospital.

"He was very emotional. He stood in front of people in his uniform and said I cannot work for a killer institution."

He told the crowd he was leaving the force and joining the anti-government protests that were to convulse the tiny Gulf island kingdom for months.

For the next month, Mr Ghanami spoke openly at rallies against the government of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

'Official anger'

Bahrain is ruled by the Al Khalifas, a Sunni Muslim royal family. The majority of the indigenous population are Shia Muslims. The Shia, who made up most of the protesters, have complained for years about discrimination in jobs, housing and education.

When GCC forces led by troops from Saudi Arabia entered the kingdom in March, Mr Ghanami, a Shia, went into hiding.

After six weeks on the run, he was arrested. He has been detained in solitary confinement since September.

On Monday he was sentenced to seven and a half years for taking part in 11 rallies and for absence without leave, three years for incitement to hatred against the government and two years for disturbing the peace.

A human rights activist who did not want to be named told the BBC the severity of the sentence reflected official anger.

" He was the first," the activist said "and he encouraged other officers to quit and join the movement"

The activist claimed that nearly 200 had followed Ali's lead and joined the protests. All of them were subsequently arrested but only one other received a sentence as long as Mr Ghanami.

Former Bahraini MP Sheikh Mohammed Khalid publicly called for the killing of protesters via Twitter on Monday, lambasting them as “traitors.”

Khalid, one of Bahrain's most controversial Sunni Islamists, urged authorities to crush protesters in a sign of growing discord between loyalists to the Sunni monarchy and Shia-led protesters.

“If you see a traitor crossing the road, you must run them over and keep going because you are in a country where the law allows you to strike and crush them,” Khalid tweeted.

Khalid, also known as Bu Ammar, was part of a Salafist bloc and has previously launched sectarian tirades against Shia Muslims, slamming the protesters as “traitors” and “agents of Iran.”

He once called Shia activists “monkeys,” and referred to the Pearl Roundabout – site of pro-democracy protests early last year – as a place of “filth” and for "muta'ah”, a temporary marriage custom permitted in Shia Islam.

In a highly charged sectarian speech early last year, Khalid said “the Sunni community have the right to defend themselves against the protesters" in response to the pro-democracy uprising.

His inflammatory remarks are likely to fuel sectarian tension in the tiny Gulf state.

Protests have resurfaced in Bahrain demanding democratic reforms in a state where a Sunni royal family rules over a majority Shia population.

Bahrain witnessed mass pro-democracy protests against the royal family of King Hamad Al-Khalifa in February 2011 before authorities, backed by neighboring countries, crushed the uprising, killing at least 35 people.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf neighbors sent troops into Bahrain in March, reinforcing a crackdown that led to accusations of serious human rights violations.

Bahrain human rights groups, declaring in a report last November, said that "Bahrain committed violations of various international human rights treaties which it has signed and ratified."

The report documented 45 killings, 1500 cases of arbitrary arrest, and 1866 cases of torture, amongst other figures.

A government-established commission found authorities used systematic torture against detainees, but its findings were met with skepticism from opposition groups due to its affiliation with the monarchy.

The commission found only 35 people had died.

Home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet and on Iran's doorstep, Bahrain is a crucial US ally in a region as tension between Tehran and Washington heats up.