Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Bahrain to retry medics jailed for treating protesters



Prosecutor orders civilian retrials for 20 medical personnel after global condemnation of sentences

Martin Chulov
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 5 October 2011

"A Bahrain prosecutor has ordered retrials in civilian courts for 20 medics sentenced under martial law for crimes they were accused of committing while treating victims from anti-government protests earlier this year.

The announcement followed condemnation from the US and European states as well as global medical bodies and rights groups at the sentences of 5-15 years handed down by a security court last week.

The plight of the medics – two paramedics and 18 doctors from Bahrain's biggest hospital, the Salmaniya Medical Centre (SMC) – had proven to be hugely damaging for Bahrain's rulers, who had launched a relentless crackdown on leaders of a civic rights push it insisted was a sectarian plot backed by Iran....."

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