Five-year-old blinded after being shot by Bahraini security

A five-year-old child has been partially blinded after being shot by security forces in Bahrain.

Activists said an attempt by doctors to save Ahmed Al-Naham's right eye failed on Saturday, leaving him unable to see out of it for the rest of his life.

Al-Naham was shot by security forces last week as he helped his father run his fish stall. His father was also injured in the attack.

The Ministry of Interior later released a statement admitting that their representatives had shot the child and his father, but said they were innocent bystanders who were accidentally shot while the army were trying to disperse an anti-government protest.

But leading opposition activist Zainab al-Khawaja, who had visited the child in hospital, said the attack was deliberate.

"Ahmed was not shot at by mistake, Ahmed and his father were shot at twice by riot police," she said on Twitter.

"Ahmed and his father were not protesting, they were not even standing, they were sitting on the ground," she added.

A video allegedly showing riot police carrying the injured child was posted on YouTube, but could not be independently verified.

At least 50 people have been killed in the past year while thousands have been injured as government forces have suppressed pro-democracy protests across the country.

Government-backed crackdowns continue, with many leading activists being arrested.

(AFP, Al-Akhbar)