28th March 2013

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

Bahrain clears 21 medics of protest charges
A defense lawyer in Bahrain says 21 medical personnel have been cleared of charges linked to antigovernment protests but cases remain open against two others who failed to appear in court. Arrests of dozens of doctors and nurses were part of the crackdown by the Gulf kingdom's Sunni rulers after an uprising began in 2011 by majority Shiites seeking a greater political voice. International medical groups denounced the arrests. The medics nearly all Shiites were charged with taking part in illegal protests and other acts linked to the demonstrations. Read More Defense lawyer Abdullah alShamlawi said the pair did not appear in court on Thursday. He added that the court ordered charges against 21 other medical staffers to be dropped. Last October, ve doctors lost their appeals against convictions of protestrelated offenses. Read More professionals arrested and charged during the unrest that erupted two years ago in the island monarchy. Bahrain faced intense criticism from human rights groups and the U.S. State Department for pursuing the charges; many of the accused medics claimed they were tortured and forced to confess to charges such as "instigating hatred" and "taking part in illegal assemblies" after treating injured protesters. Read More They had been found guilty last November of misdemeanours after treating protesters injured by police clearing a landmark in the capital. The medics and 28 of their colleagues were arrested in April 2011 when the country was under martial law. They alleged they were tortured and coerced into making false confessions. Read More unlicenced assemblies and violation of the law in cases related to the events that unfolded in Bahrain in February and March 2011. Earlier charges brought against then had been dropped for theoretically clashing with the exercise of freedom of expression, the public prosecutor said in November. Read More

Bahrain appeals court revokes jail for medics

A Bahrain appeals court on Thursday acquitted 21 Shiite medics who had been sentenced to three months in jail each for taking part in anti-regime protests in 2011, lawyers said.

Two other medics did not appeal the November verdict meted out to the 23 defendants of three months in prison or payment of 200 dinars ($530), the lawyers said, without elaborating. The medics had been convicted of committing crimes and violations, breaching the law and the medical norms, as well as taking part in unauthorised demonstrations. Read More

Bahraini court refuses to drop charges against two medics

A Bahraini court has refused to drop the charges against two medical personnel over their participation in protest rallies against the ruling Al Khalifa regime, APA reports quoting Press TV.

Bahrain medics' convictions overturned by appeals court

Twenty-one medics arrested at a hospital during anti-government protests in Bahrain two years ago have had their convictions quashed.

Bahrain: 21 medics cleared in closely watched case

A Bahraini court on Thursday cleared 21 medics who had been convicted in connection with protests against the government, a victory for rights activists in the closely watched case. The exonerated doctors, nurses and other medical personnel were among scores of health

Bahrain overturns the verdict, acquits 21 protest medics

Bahrains court of appeals on Thursday acquitted 21 medics, overturning a threemonth sentence issued by a lower court in November. In November, 28 medics were put on trial before the high criminal court on charges of taking part in

Bahraini Medics Acquitted of Politically-Motivated Charges

This morning the Bahrain regime handed down acquittals in the case of 23 Bahraini medics who were appealing their politicallymotivated sentences. Human Rights First notes that this is a welcome step forward but that the Bahraini government urgently needs to explain why dozens of medics

confessed to crimes they did not commit, and who forced them to confess. The medics had been charged with taking part in illegal assemblies in an appeal verdict. These acquittals are welcome and horribly late, said Human Rights Firsts Brian Dooley. A year after their trial started, two years after the alleged incidents, these medics have nally been vindicated after being mistreated or tortured in custody. Read More

Bahrain Regime Must be Held to Account for Human Rights Abuse, Say MEPs
Bahrain must be held accountable by the United Nations for its human rights abuses, according to a group of Socialists and Democrat (S&D) MPs in the European Parliament. Two leading MEPs, who visited the country in December, have urged the

Bahraini government to allow two imprisoned prodemocracy activists on hunger strike "to have access to medical attention, not be punished for refusing to wear prison uniform, and to be allowed regular family visits". Abdullah al-Khawaja and his daughter Zainab initiated a uids and hunger strike after they were denied a family meeting on 17 March. Read More Zainab is reportedly having severe hypoglymia with HGT measurements reaching 2. Her family reported that she sounded fatigued, said she was suffering loss of memory and concentration. Having initiated a dry hunger strike now, including no intake of glucose, will put her at high risk of sudden onset arrhythmias, loss of consciousness and possibly death especially that she is in a detention center were no cardiac monitor or cardiac resuscitation service is available. Read More Fox is scheduled to appear at the event this weekend alongside former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, the American Enterprise Institute, which lobbied for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the Heritage Foundation, a think tank that was inuential during the Cold War. All are rightwing. Read More

Is the Foreign Office facing both ways over the troubles in Bahrain?
The Arab kingdom of Bahrain has not lacked British visitors this month. The Foreign Ofce minister, Alistair Burt is just back, members of the Commons Foreign Affairs committee have just arrived, and the former Defence Secretary Liam Fox will be there over the Easter weekend. His ofce say that he is there to discuss defence matters, including the basing of the

British eet off Bahrain, with the Foreign Ofces support. At this busy time, the British Ambassador, Iain Lindsay, has given an interview to Bahrains main newspaper, the Gulf Daily News, in which he labelled some of the protesters as terrorists, full stop, suggested that they were taking instructions from Iran, and attacked a recent report on Bahrain by Human Rights Watch as deeply unhelpful, condescending and patronising. Read More

Don't overlook Bahrain, it's a matter of life and death

Zainab al-Khawaja, on hunger strike since March 17, escalated her protest last weekend and now refuses liquids as well, risking her internal organs shutting down, according to an urgent appealby the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

Human rights groups hit out at Liam Fox for Bahrain summit
Liam Fox has been criticised by human rights groups for his decision to appear at a conference in Bahrain designed to improve the countrys image.

The only British speaker on the bill, Fox will appear alongside US right-wingers such as formerU.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton at the summit which takes place this weekend, set up to rally western opinion to the side of Bahrains monarchy. Read More

UK's Liam Fox criticised over Bahrain loyalty

Human rights groups have criticised former British defence minister Liam Fox for agreeing to appear at a conference in Bahrain designed to improve the countrys international image amid concerns over its handling of recent civil unrest, according to leftwing blog Left Foot Forward.

RCSI delegation to visit Bahrain after resignation

A delegation from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) will travel to Bahrain next week to meet government ofcials following the resignation of its Bahrain campuss president over the cancellation of a conference on medical ethics he helped organise.

The delegation, which will include the RCSIs president, Prof Patrick Broe, and its chief executive, Prof Cathal Kelly, will also meet staff and students at the RCSI facility. The RCSI, whose investment in Bahrain amounts to 70 million, declined to comment on Bahraini media reports that claimed the purpose of the visit was to apologise to ofcials for the practises Read More

Bahrain bungles housing project

Bahrain is unlikely to meet its ve-year deadline to clear its waiting list for government homes, said a senior government ofcial. The unrealistic expectation of his predecessor to build 50,000 homes across the country could not be

achieved in the time frame, Housing Minister Bassem Al Hamer was quoted as saying in our sister publication the Gulf Daily News (GDN). However, he said the ministry was on the right track with tens of thousands of units being built as part of projects in the Northern Town, Hidd and Sitra. Read More