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Attacks on Doctors in Bahrain

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In the wake of international outrage over its brutal treatment of protesters in February-March of 2011, the Government of Bahrain promised to respect human rights.

Tell the Government of Bahrain to put those words into action.

Thousands of protesters in the small island Kingdom of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf took to the streets calling for government reform in February and March 2011. The Bahraini government’s response was brutal and systematic: shoot civilian protesters, detain and torture them, and erase all evidence.

On the frontline, treating hundreds of these wounded civilians, doctors had first-hand knowledge of government atrocities. As a result of their efforts to provide unbiased care for wounded protestors, the government initiated systematic and targeted attacks against medical personnel. This assault on healthcare workers and their patients constitutes extreme violations of the principle of medical neutrality and are grave breaches of international law.

PHR went to Bahrain to investigate and document these attacks. Our investigators spoke with eyewitnesses of abducted physicians, some of whom were ripped from their homes in the middle of the night by masked security forces. Our report, Do No Harm, documents other violations of medical neutrality including the beating, abuse, and threatening of Shi’a physicians at Salmaniya Hospital; government security forces stealing ambulances and posing as medics; the militarization of hospitals and clinics, thus obstructing medical care; and rampant fear that prevents patients from seeking urgent medical treatment. Other key findings in the report include the use excessive force against unarmed civilians and violent assaults on civilian detainees by government authorities and security forces.

Medicine and delivery of health care should unite rather than divide a country. There are immeasurable long-term consequences of these atrocities. For each doctor, nurse, or medic that the government disappears, many more civilians’ lives are impacted as patients go untreated. Bahrain’s abuses in the spring of 2011 are the most extreme violations of medical neutrality in the past half century, and history will remember them as such.

Read Do No Harm: A Call for Bahrain to End Systematic Attacks on Doctors and Patients

Learn More

Bahrain puts doctors on trial (May 11, 2012)

Bahrain’s prosecution of some of its leading medical professionals epitomizes a disturbing sectarian chasm that must be addressed and breached, says PHR's Richard Sollom in a Global Post Op-Ed.

Retrial Ordered for 21 Defendants in Bahrain Including Hunger Striker Abdulhadi al-Khawaja (April 30, 2012)

Following news reports that leading Bahraini opposition activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja will be granted a retrial along with 20 other activists, PHR called for a fair and open trial for all. A Bahraini appeals court today ordered the retrial of the 21 detainees to take place in a civil court.

Formula 1 Racers, and Protestors, Get Ready for Bahrain’s Big Day (April 21, 2012)

Despite report from PHR, F1 race will continue as scheduled in Bahrain amid protests against human rights atrocities.

Bahrain’s Formula One Gala Not Going as Planned (April 21, 2012)

A New York Times article on Bahrain's Formula One Race, includes a message from PHR that urges more public discussion of Bahrain's current political situation as the race goes forward.

More Attacks on Doctors in Bahrain News »

Four Imprisoned Bahraini Medical Professionals Should be Released Immediately (April 25, 2012)

Today at his appellate court trial in Bahrain, hospital administrator Younis Ashoori could have been freed from arbitrary detention. The trumped up charges against him could have been overturned, proving to Bahrain’s citizens and the world that the Bahraini government would not dare to uphold a three-year conviction handed down last June by military court. Sadly, this was not the case.

Bahraini Hunger Striker Force Fed? If So, It's Torture (March 31, 2012)

For the past seven weeks a well-known human rights activist in Bahrain has led a hunger strike protesting his imprisonment and torture at the hands of his captors. The forced feeding he has likely been subjected to is torture and must end immediately.

Tear Gas or Lethal Gas? Bahrain’s Death Toll Mounts to 34 (March 16, 2012)

PHR has compiled a list of 34 reported tear-gas-related deaths in Bahrain since the uprising began a year ago. Based on media and other accounts compiled for the period March 2011 through February, 2012, this report highlights the Government of Bahrain's oppressive use of tear gas.

Proving Torture Allegations: Trouble with Bahraini Trial Continues (March 12, 2012)

Twenty medical professionals in Bahrain continue to fight for vindication from politically motivated charges against them. Last Thursday, Bahraini courts denied these medical personnel yet another form of justice.

More Attacks on Doctors in Bahrain Posts »

All Charges Against the Medical Professionals in Bahrain Must be Expunged (May 2012)

Following the final day of the trial for 20 Bahraini medical professionals who were convicted of charges including occupying a hospital and attempting to overthrow the government, PHR today called for the court to expunge all politically motivated charges.

Bahrain and the Formula One Race: Drivers Should be Informed (April 2012)

PHR calls on the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the governing body of the Formula One, to hold a briefing conducted by human rights defenders and those familiar with the human rights situation in Bahrain.

President Obama Publicly Expresses Concern for Bahraini Activist al-Khawaja; PHR Applauds (April 2012)

PHR applauds President Obama for publicly expressing his concern for the well-being of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a detained Bahraini human rights defender who has been on a hunger strike for the past two months.

PHR Calls on Government of Bahrain to Release Abdulhadi al-Khawaja (April 2012)

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a Bahraini human rights defender and democracy activist who reportedly faces death after a nearly two-month long hunger strike, must immediately be released.

More Attacks on Doctors in Bahrain Research »

Featured Report

Do No Harm

PHR's emergency report documents and decries systematic human rights abuses in Bahrain, and persecution of health workers based on their knowledge of those abuses. Read More »

Featured Expert

Nizam Peerwani, MD

Nizam Peerwani, MD

A Chief Medical Examiner in Texas since 1979, Dr. Peerwani was one of two investigators for PHR of attacks on health professionals and their patients in Bahrain in 2011. Read More »