UN rights office censures Bahraini regime

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The UN human rights office has censured the Bahraini regime for sentencing medical professionals as tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters have again taken to the streets in the Persian Gulf kingdom to demand freedom and democracy.

Shouting anti-government slogans, demonstrators on Friday called for the ouster of Al Khalifa family, which has ruled Bahrain for more than four decades, Press TV reported.

The demonstration was organized by the country's main opposition group, al-Wefaq.

The protesters also called on the international community to stand by the Bahraini people.

On Thursday, a Bahraini court sentenced one protester to death for allegedly killing a policeman, and gave 20 doctors and nurses prison sentences ranging from five to 15 years. At least 33 protesters -- among them union leaders and professional athletes -- also received sentences of three years or more.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) questioned whether due process was observed by Bahraini court.

Bahrain's military-run National Safety Court reportedly gave defendants and their lawyers little time to prepare, failed to investigate allegations of torture and conducted some trials in just 10 minutes, a spokesman for the UNHCHR said Friday, AP reported.

“For such harsh sentences to be handed down to civilians in a military court with serious due process irregularities raises severe concerns,” Rupert Colville, told reporters in Geneva.

“We understand — according to our sources that we trust — that defendants have had limited access to lawyers, and in most cases lawyers definitely did not have enough time to prepare their clients' defense properly.”

The UN human rights office called on the government to ensure that persons detained were charged with “a recognizable criminal offense.”

Colville said some of the defendants appeared to have been found guilty of nothing more than exercising their right to free speech.

Hundreds of activists have been imprisoned since March when Bahrain's rulers imposed martial law to deal with protests.

The trial of the medical staff has been closely watched by rights groups, which have criticized Bahrain's use of the special court whose military and civilian judges are appointed by the commander of Bahrain's defense force.

The World Health Organization also questioned the prosecution of the medical staff, but refrained from outright criticism of the Bahrain government.

“Healthcare workers have a moral and ethical obligation to treat the injured regardless of their political obligation and they should never be punished for doing what is required by this obligation,” said WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib.

 Doctor recounts ordeal at the hands of Bahraini authorities

A female Bahraini doctor, who has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for treating injured anti-regime protesters, recounts her mistreatment at the hands of government's forces.

Nada Dhaif, who used to attend to protest-related injuries at Salmaniya, the largest hospital in the Bahraini capital of Manama, was arrested during a regime-ordered attack on her house on March 19.

She was sentenced during a Thursday trial.

“It was 03:00 a.m., when they broke into my house. I was taken away blindfolded and handcuffed. I didn't know that they were security forces,” she told Press TV on Thursday.

“They were in civilians clothes. So, I thought I was actually kidnapped,” she said.

Dhaif said, “I was thinking that I was being taken to an unknown place. Later on, I came to know that they were from the Central Investigation Department (CID).”

“Immediately after I was taken away…I was treated with beating and cursing.” She said the torturers had even touched her face, using 'electrocuters.'

“I was crying and I lost consciousness two or three times during this time in the military clinic.”

Dhaif said, while detention, she was only allowed very limited or excessively-belated controlled contact with her family, while completely denied access to her lawyer. The regime forces also prevented her from using the bathroom or shower for a long time span.

Bahrainis have been holding the peaceful rallies since mid-February, demanding an end to the Al Khalifa's over-40-year-long rule over the Persian Gulf island.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds more arrested in a brutal Manama-ordered and Riyadh-backed crackdown in the country, which hosts a huge American military installation for the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf.

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