Former al-Qaeda member claims he was hired by Bahrain as assassin

Critics said it exposed the political oppression that the country’s majority Shia population had suffered for decades.

A former al-Qaeda member claims the Bahraini government recruited him to assassinate members of the country’s Shia-led opposition.

This comes after thousands of Bahraini opposition members and activists were arrested following a violent crackdown on mass protests in March 2011.

The Bahraini government says the accusations are false.

Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford has this exclusive report.