Protests over unjust trials and imprisonment met with brutal response from Bahrian Regime

Bahraini forces clash with protestors over political prisoners and jailed medics
15 October, 2012 – ABNA.co

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Heavy clashes have been reported in Bahrain between Saudi-backed forces and protestors who have taken to the streets to show solidarity with political prisoners and jailed medics.

Earlier yesterday, lawyers said in a statement that the five jailed medics have gone on hunger strike to urge “all international organizations to demand their release”.

“They were harshly tortured by authorities while being detained. Torture caused injuries and disabilities whose traces remain on the bodies of the medics,” the statement said.

The medics have been in prison since early October after Bahrain’s Court of Cassation, the country’s highest court upheld their sentences.

They were among twenty doctors and nurses who worked in Manama during the uprising against the Al Khalifa regime.

Reports say that the medics were given jail terms from up to one month to five years.

The Bahraini authorities charged the medical workers with using hospitals for anti-government activities, possession of weapons, and theft of medical equipment — claims they denied. The medical workers say the government is only punishing them for treating people who took part in demonstrations.

Since mid-February 2011, anti-government protesters have been staging regular demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.

On March 14, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on the peaceful protesters.

According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested in the crackdown in Bahrain.

Physicians for Human Rights say doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, and even disappeared because they have “evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces, and riot police” in the crackdown on anti-government protesters.

A report published by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry in November 2011 found that the Al Khalifa regime had used “excessive force” in the campaign of suppression and accused Manama of torturing political activists, politicians, and protesters. …more