Bahrain: 23 Medics to 3 Months Jail, AI Slams Continuous Repression

Local Editor

A Bahrain court has sentenced on Thursday 23 medics to three months in jail each or payment of a fine.

Five other medics have been acquitted, Prosecutor Abdulrahman al-Sayyed said.
The medics are among the 95 health workers who were arrested between February and March 2011.
Al-Sayyed claimed that the medics have "committed crimes and violations, breaching the law and norms."

According to the verdict, the health workers can pay 200 Bahraini dinars each to have their prison terms suspended.
Many medics unveiled that they were tortured in custody.
Nine medics have been handed jail terms of between one month and five years, while nine others were acquitted and two remain at large.
Earlier in the day, Amnesty International released a report about repression in the country, stating that "the authorities in Bahrain do not have the will to take the steps necessary to reform."

"As the country is engulfed in entrenched unrest and instability looms, the international community, and especially Bahrain's allies, have a duty to condemn what is happening in the country," the report added.
In its latest study - entitled "Bahrain: Reform Shelved, Repression Unleashed" - AI condemned "the Bahraini failure to deliver on its promise of reform."
Instead, it noted that the human rights situation in the kingdom has deteriorated "markedly".

"Bahrain is facing a stark choice between the rule of law or sliding into a downward spiral of repression and instability," Amnesty said in its report.


Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org