(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The Bahraini Appeals Court has upheld a one year sentence handed to Dr. Saeed Al-Samahiji, an eye surgery consultant charged for “insulting the king”. Many Bahrainis were arrested and tried for the very same charge over the past three years.The sentence is linked to a series of harsh reprisal measures taken against medics who –complying to medical neutrality- treated protesters injured in the regime’s crackdown on mass pro-democracy demonstrations in February 2011.Al-Samihiji was arrested twice in relation to his role in treating the protesters. In October 2012, Al-Samahiji was arrested with 6 other medics in home raids. His health had badly deteriorated in prison.Among the arrested medics were Dr. Ali Al-Ekri and Ibrahim Dimistani, a paramedic, who both remain behind bars in Bahrain. The medics face politically-motivated trials.Al-Samahiji went on a 75 hour hunger strike in June 2012 protesting the arbitrary sentences handed to the medics for their humanitarian role./129
AhlulBayt News Agency