New torture claim emerge as Medicals go on Trial

Published on Monday, June 20, 2011 by The Independent/UK
Bahraini Leadership Faces New Claims That Torture Took Place in Hospital
Human rights group says suspected protesters – and doctors and nurses who treated them – have been systematically abused
by Alistair Dawber

The government of Bahrain faces fresh allegations that it systematically tortured people it suspected of taking part in demonstrations against its autocratic rulers earlier this year, and of deliberately undermining the country’s health system as 20 doctors go back on trial today for their supposed role in the protests.

A Shia man from a village near Manama with shotgun wounds. One of the world’s most respected humanitarian organisations, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), alleges that security forces loyal to the tiny Gulf state’s authoritarian leader, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, regularly beat hospital patients who had injuries that could have been sustained during the rallies that started in February. (AFP/GETTY) One of the world’s most respected humanitarian organisations, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), alleges that security forces loyal to the tiny Gulf state’s authoritarian leader, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, regularly beat hospital patients who had injuries that could have been sustained during the rallies that started in February. It also says that, after working alongside the country’s doctors and nurses for months, the charges against them are without merit.

The MSF testimony is the first to document the existence of what was effectively a torture chamber maintained by Bahraini forces within the hospital. And it provides fresh evidence that retribution was not limited to the alleged ringleaders of the protests.

Jonathan Whittall, MSF’s head of mission in Bahrain, has recently returned from the country. He says that troops routinely tortured patients at the main Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) in the capital, Manama. “The security forces basically took control of the hospital on 17 March when tanks moved outside and set up checkpoints for anyone entering or leaving. Inside, many of the wounded with injuries that could have been sustained during the protests were taken to the sixth floor, where they were beaten three times a day.”

MSF says that young men with injuries such as broken limbs or gunshot wounds were particularly targeted for abuse, but that it did not appear that the security forces were looking for particular individuals.

“The hospital became a place to be feared,” says Mr Whittall, who was in the Salmaniya hospital at the same time as Bahraini troops and spoke to a number of eye-witnesses and victims of violence. “One patient was caught trying to leave and he was beaten both at Salmaniya and then later in jail – there was no evidence that he was a ringleader. The situation was so bad some people didn’t dare come to the hospital – in some cases, people had no access to healthcare and that is still the situation today.”

Some of the injured were removed from hospital, only to reappear later with more serious injuries, Mr Whittall adds. “One guy was brought into the hospital with a saw injury to the head, but he was removed by government forces and disappeared for weeks. His family had no idea what had happened to him until he reappeared with severe brain damage. There were no medical reports or any indication of what had happened to him during his detention.”

Unlike protests in other Middle Eastern countries, such as Tunisia or Egypt, where pro-democracy demonstrators have ousted unpopular dictatorships, Bahrain has effectively quelled its protests. Largely, those on the streets, who took over Manama’s central Pearl Square, were from the majority Shia population, who argue that they are denied the opportunities afforded to the minority Sunnis. The ruling al-Khalifa family are Sunni.

In March, Bahrain asked neighbouring Saudi Arabia, where the ruling royal family is also Sunni, to send in troops to put down the protests. ….more