Bahrain ends its amnesty for foreign workers

The authorities in Bahrain have terminated their four-month-old amnesty for illegal foreign workers: those overstaying their visas could now face a six-month prison term, heavy fines and deportation.

Officials in Bahrain said that since July about five thousand illegal workers -- most of them Indians -- had taken advantage of the amnesty to leave; forty thousand more had been allowed to stay.

Correspondents say the amnesty is seen as an attempt to contain political unrest among Bahrain's Shiite Muslims who blame unemployment on the high number of imported workers.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service