Bahraini prisoner's death from COVID-19 prompts protests

Husain Barakat received China's Sinopharm vaccine but died anyway after contracting the coronavirus in prison.
A large billboard carries a message encouraging people to take part in a voluntary free vaccination campaign against COVID-19 outside the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Center in the capital, Manama, on Dec. 24, 2020.
A large billboard carries a message encouraging people to take part in a voluntary free vaccination campaign against COVID-19 outside the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Center in the capital, Manama, on Dec. 24, 2020. - MAZEN MAHDI/AFP via Getty Images
Al Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East
Al-Monitor Staff

The death of a prisoner from the coronavirus in Bahrain has triggered protests in the Gulf kingdom.

Husain Barakat died on Wednesday after succumbing to COVID-19. The 48-year-old political prisoner had been on a respirator and died in the hospital. Barakat had been fully vaccinated against the virus via China’s Sinopharm vaccine. Protests broke out in the town of Diah on the island, as people blamed the government for his death, The Associated Press reported.

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