From AFP news agency:
Bahraini doctors call for neutral trial
Agence France-Presse
Dec 28, 2011
MANAMA // Shiite doctors on bail in Bahrain pending retrial for their role in pro-democracy protests demanded a neutral hearing as they spoke of being subjected to months of torture.
“I can’t talk,” sobbed a consultant paediatrician, Nader Dawani, who said he was made to stand for prolonged periods of time, while being beaten, mainly by a female officer.
“She was the harshest. She used to hit me with a hose and wooden canes, many of which broke on my back,” said the 54-year-old man, who said he was forced to stand for seven days.
The United Nations’ top human rights official is calling on tiny, oil-rich Bahrain to release prisoners detained for joining peaceful demonstrations earlier this year, and to restore the jobs of thousands of people who were dismissed for joining the protest: here.
Another Bahraini killed: here.
Bahrain 1st-Hand: The Café Where Lattes Have an Extra Shot of Tear Gas: here.
Reblogged this on Basil Wheel.
Bahrain to try five policemen over deaths
DUBAI, Dec 29 (Reuters) – Bahrain, under pressure to
clean up its human rights record, said on Thursday it would try
five police officers over the deaths of two people in custody
during unrest this year.
At least four people died in detention after Bahrain
introduced a period of martial law to crush mass protests
demanding democratic reforms in February and March.
A statement on the official BNA news agency, citing the
public prosecutor, said two of the police officers beat two
detainees to death and the other three officers failed to report
the incident to authorities. It said the trial would begin on
Jan. 11.
Bahrain, whose Sunni royal family rules over a mainly
Shi’ite population, said in November it was prosecuting 20
officers over abuses.
An independent inquiry released a report in November that
talked of systematic abuse of detainees and listed forms of
abuse and torture that many suffered.
The government has promised to implement the report’s
recommendations, which the U.S. Congress has linked to its
approval of a $53 million arms sale to Manama, which is home to
the U.S. Fifth Fleet.
The island’s banking and tourism sectors have been hit by
continuing unrest as protesters in Shi’ite villages clash with
riot police on a daily basis. Opposition groups want an end to
the ruling al-Khalifa family’s domination of government.
(Writing by Andrew Hammond)
Copyright © 2011, Reuters
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