A court in Bahrain has sentenced 23 medical professionals to three months in jail each for taking part in last year’s anti-regime demonstrations and treating the protesters injured in the security crackdown, according to the state media.
Prosecutor Abdulrahman al-Sayyed quoted as saying by the official BNA news agency that the jailed medics had “committed crimes and violations, breaching the law and the medical norms.” He said five other medics had been acquitted by the court.
According to the prosecutor, the jailed medics have been given the option of paying a fine of 200 dinars ($530) each to have their prison terms suspended. He added that they have the right to appeal the verdict.
Incidentally, the 23 medics sentenced Wednesday were part of a larger group of medical professionals arrested in a brutal crackdown on anti-regime protests in mid-March 2011. Last month, Bahrain’s top court has upheld the prison sentences given to nine other medics in the group by a lower court earlier this year.
The Court of Cassation made the ruling after rejecting appeals filed by the convicts against their sentencing by the Court of Appeals in June on charges of publicly inciting hatred as well as contempt and taking part in illegal gatherings.
In its June ruling, the appeals court had reduced the lengthy prison terms given to the medics by a military court in October 2011. The court also acquitted nine others and refused to rule on the 15-year-prison terms awarded to two of the accused medics who are believed to have fled the country or gone into hiding.
All the medical workers involved in the case were employees of the Salmaniya Medical Complex, the largest hospital in the tiny but oil-rich island nation. They had provided treatment to protesters who were injured in clashes with security forces during the uprising, and provided information on the number of dead and wounded in the government crackdown.
Bahraini security forces stormed the hospital in mid-March as part of efforts to quell the unrest with the help of troops from other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) States. While many of the medical workers at the facility were arrested, some of them managed to flee the country.
The Bahraini government eventually managed to suppress last year’s unrest with the help of GCC forces. It is believed that at least 25 people were killed and more than 1,000 Opposition supporters detained in the ensuing crackdown.
Bahrain continues to witness frequent anti-government protests, and allegations of violent crackdowns on Opposition activists are heard almost every day despite promises of reforms by the country’s Sunni monarchy. It is estimated that at least 60 people have been killed since pro-democracy protests broke out in the country in February 2011.
The protests are being staged by the Opposition and Bahrain’s Shiite majority, who have long been complaining about discrimination in housing and government jobs. They have been demanding greater political rights and want the Sunni monarchy to hand over most of its powers to the elected Parliament.
Political turmoil in Bahrain has been of particular concern to the United States since the strategically located island in the Persian Gulf is home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet. The US also fears that the Gulf Kingdom with its Shiite-majority population could come under Iranian influence.
by RTT Staff Writer
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