Prisoner dies lacking health care, following torture, weeks after Bahrain “Passing Marks” on Prisons

Bahrain prison care questioned after inmate death
12 October, 2013

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — The lawyer of a Bahraini prisoner who died after being transferred to a hospital is claiming authorities waited too long to provide medical treatment and ignored his deteriorating health, claims officials have denied.

The dispute is likely to bring calls for greater scrutiny on prison conditions in the Gulf nation.

Lawyer Zainab Abdulaziz said officials did not properly care for Yousef Ali al-Nashmi, arrested in August as part of crackdowns following a wave of protests. She said al-Nashmi was in a coma when he was finally hospitalized Sept. 23. He died Friday.

Bahrain’s public prosecutor’s office said early Saturday that al-Nashmi died of HIV-linked problems and had been scheduled to be released.

Sunni-ruled Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, has been gripped by nonstop unrest since early 2011.
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