Bahrain health worker trials
The Bahrain health worker trials were a series of legal cases in which forty-eight doctors, nurses, and dentists faced charges for their actions during the Bahraini uprising of 2011.
An independent commission organized by the King of Bahrain concluded in November 2011 that many of the detained health workers had been subject to torture and abuse while in police detention.
Beginning in February 2011, Bahrain saw sustained pro-democracy protests, centered at Pearl Roundabout in the capital of Manama, as part of the wider Arab Spring.
[9] Charges against the doctors included "occupying a hospital, stockpiling weapons, spreading lies and false news, inciting hatred of Bahrain's rulers and calling for their overthrow, and withholding treatment of Sunnis".
[15] A spokesman for Bahrain's Information Affairs Authority stated that the health workers were fabricating their stories and that they were "collaborating with the hard liners" in "an attempted coup d'etat".
[18] The twenty health workers facing felony charges were found guilty and sentenced on 29 September 2011 by the military National Safety Court of First Instance.
[6] The sentences were a blow to the hopes of human rights groups lobbying on the health workers' behalf, which had predicted authorities would ease their stance after releasing some defendants on bail.
[29] Many of the detained health workers stated that they were ill-treated or tortured while in custody, leading Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to call for independent investigations.
[31] Dr. Fatima Haji alleged that she was blindfolded and beaten in an effort to make her confess to faking the injuries to protesters during her Al Jazeera interview; she later identified her interrogator as a distant relative of the king.
[6] Ibrahim al-Demastani, head of the Bahrain Nurse's Society, alleged that he was deliberately kicked and kneed by guards in his back at a spot where he had told them he had a prolapsed disc; he was then denied medical care until he happened to meet a police officer to whom he had once taught first aid.
Dr. Basim Dhaif alleged that he was beaten in front of his children at his home at the time of his arrest, and eventually signed a false confession while in custody after authorities threatened to harm his family.
[18] Many Sunnis supporting the government of Bahrain stood against the doctors, accusing them of "deliberately worsening patient injuries for cameras" as well as "causing the deaths of protesters in order to discredit security personnel".
[2] United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also expressed concern at the legality of the military trials, calling on the Bahraini government "to ensure the application of due process and respect for international human rights norms".
[7] In May 2011, the group issued a statement on behalf of the health workers, urging that "doctors and nurses must be allowed to provide healthcare in line with medical ethics, without the fear of reprisal.
"[37] The World Health Organization expressed similar concerns, stating that "health-care workers must be able to carry out their duty to treat injured people, regardless of their political affiliation, and even in times of conflict.
"[38] The U.K.-based Royal College of Nursing wrote to the Bahraini government on the health workers' behalf, as well as sending them a direct video message of support in which General Secretary Peter Carter said, "All you were doing was your job.
[42] Freedom House called the trials part of "a pattern of repression that belies any promises of reform and honest political discourse by the government or the ruling family".
[9] Human Rights Watch protested the alleged torture of the medics, condemned what it called the "fundamental unfairness" of the trials, and urged the appeals court to overturn the "flawed convictions".
