The U.S.-backed monarchy in Bahrain continues to block international monitors from assessing human rights conditions in the crackdown on opposition protests. On Thursday, the United Nations’ top investigator into torture said Bahrain has asked him to delay a trip scheduled for this month until July. Bahrain says it wants the investigator, Juan Méndez, to visit after it has completed a set of reforms put forward by an international panel last year. Bahrain has also tightened visa restrictions on human rights group, limiting them to five-day visits to Bahrain and requiring them to obtain a Bahraini sponsor. In response, Amnesty International says it has no choice but to cancel its trip. The moves follow Bahrain’s recent deportations of a number of internationals who had sought to witness the repression of protests.