MANAMA, March 28, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Bahrain on Saturday denied that it was cracking down on citizens based on their religious identity after activists reported a slew of arrests they said had mainly targeted Shias amid the Middle East war.

The statement came after two Bahraini rights groups told AFP that more than 200 people, the vast majority of them from the Shia community, had been arrested since the beginning of the war.

Some of those arrested were accused of espionage for Iran's Revolutionary Guards or having links to Iran, while others were charged with treason, sharing footage of Iran's attacks, or glorifying the actions of Iran, among other accusations.

"The suggestion that Bahrain is targeting its citizens based on religious identity is categorically false and inflammatory," Bahrain's National Communication Centre said in a statement to AFP.

"Charges have been brought because of specific, evidenced conduct -- including espionage, dissemination of enemy propaganda, and incitement to violence," it said.

"Any act that targets national security or seeks to undermine national unity will not be tolerated."

Rights groups told AFP that lawyers had had a difficult time reaching their clients. In the case of one woman arrested over her social media posts, her family spent five days trying to locate her, according to a relative.

"The allegation that lawyers were systematically denied timely access to clients is untrue. The specific claim that a female detainee's family could not locate her for five days is equally without foundation. All defence rights have been scrupulously observed throughout," the NCC said.

Sunni-ruled Bahrain is home, like neighbouring Iran, to a large Shia community that has long complained of marginalisation.