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, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today called for the court to expunge all politically motivated charges. The appellate court is scheduled to issue the final verdicts on June 14.
Eighteen of the accused medical professionals have alleged that they suffered torture while in detention. PHR has continually called for independent, thorough investigations of all torture allegations by independent and qualified forensic experts. The medical evaluations of all detainees in Bahrain should be conducted according to the gold standard of torture investigations – the U.N. Istanbul Protocol, which PHR helped to develop.