Bahrainis have called for the downfall of ruling Al Khalifa dynasty as they attend the funeral of a 16-year-old anti-regime protester killed by the regime security forces. 

Ahmed Jaber al-Qattan was shot in the chest at close range in the village of Abu Saiba near the capital on Thursday after security forces attacked a group of around 20 youths chanting anti-government slogans, Press TV reported. 

His death sparked numerous protests across Bahrain, all of which witnessed a heavy crackdown by Saudi-backed security forces. 

"The martyrdom of young Jaber falls under the systematic oppression of those demanding democracy in Bahrain," the country's largest opposition bloc, al-Wefaq, said in a statement on Friday. 

Bahrain's interior ministry has confirmed al-Qattan's death, claiming that the youth died from ''cardiac arrest''. 

He is the latest victim of brutal attacks on anti-regime protesters by Saudi-backed forces in Bahrain. In August, regime forces killed 14-year-old Ali Jawad by shooting a tear gas canister at his head during a protest held following Eid al-Fitr prayers in the city of Sitra. 

Meanwhile, Saudi-backed Bahraini troops have attacked anti-government protesters in Diraz, injuring several young demonstrators, activist have reported. 

Beirut forum urges probe into Bahrain crimes 

On Thursday, a Lebanon conference on human rights violations in Bahrain called on to form a neutral committee to investigate the crimes committed in the kingdom.

 

Hundreds of human rights activists and law experts participating in the Bahrain Forum for Human Rights, held in Beirut on October 5-6, expressed solidarity with the people of Bahrain fighting against the Saudi-backed oppression, a Press TV correspondent reported. 

Youssef Rabie, president of the forum, announced that the conference recommends a non-biased neutral committee should probe all the crimes committed in Bahrain, especially the killing, torture and rape of protesters.

Rabie emphasized that the perpetrators should be tried in international courts, and called on all "non-Bahraini forces" to withdraw immediately from the kingdom. 

He condemned the Al Khalifa regime for resorting to Saudi forces in its crackdown on the peaceful protests. 

In addition, Rabie stated the conference aimed to break the media blackout on Bahrain. 

Nearly 200 people including representatives of Western human rights organizations participated in the event. The gathering came in the wake of a new wave of harsh sentences handed down to anti-regime protesters. 

International lawyer Franklin Lamb said that if the experts managed to win lawsuits against the Bahraini regime in the U.S. courts, the move could lead to a cutoff of Washington’s support to the Manama regime.

The human rights campaigners called for the documentation of cases, which amount to human rights violations as the first step to halt the use of violence against civilians in Bahrain.

The lawyers slammed Manama's military court trials for the civilian protesters. 

The National Safety Court, which has a mixed military and civil panel, has sentenced more than 100 people for their alleged involvement in the protests. 

Among the convicts are 20 medical professionals, who have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 5 to 15 years for treating the inured protesters. 

Physicians for Human Rights says doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, or disappeared because they have "evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces and riot police" in the crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Most of the detainees are said to have been forced to sign confessions under duress.

The harsh sentences have drawn international criticism, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressing ''deep concern'' over the sentences and calling for the release of all political detainees in Bahrain. 

The UN Human Rights Office has also said that the trials failed to meet international standards of transparency as the arrested suspects were allowed limited access to lawyers for legal advice. 

Since mid-February, thousands of anti-government protesters have been staging regular demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power. 

On March 14, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on the peaceful protesters. 

According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested in the crackdown.