June 13, 2011
GENEVA, Switzerland, June 13 (UPI) — The effect of a trial of 48 medical professionals accused of playing a role in the uprising in Bahrain is troubling, a Doctors without Borders official said.
Bahrain started the trials for 48 healthcare workers that the government accuses of supporting a Shiite rebellion against the minority Sunni monarchy.
June 13, 2011
GENEVA, Switzerland, June 13 (UPI) — The effect of a trial of 48 medical professionals accused of playing a role in the uprising in Bahrain is troubling, a Doctors without Borders official said.
Bahrain started the trials for 48 healthcare workers that the government accuses of supporting a Shiite rebellion against the minority Sunni monarchy.
David Michalski, an official with Doctors without Borders, told al-Jazeera the consequences of the trial were troubling. He said the detention of healthcare workers and the implications for patients is troubling. Those in need of hospital care, he added, have grown “very fearful.”
He said the main state-run Salmaniya Hospital in Bahrain became “politicized” and later “militarized” during the crackdown on the Shiite protesters.
Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet and is seen as a key U.S. ally in the Middle East. Al-Jazeera points to a U.S. State Department budget report that shows a $112 million increase in military sales to Bahrain in the last two years.
The Arab broadcaster puts the death toll at 31, adding the State Department report raises questions about whether U.S. military aid was indirectly supporting the monarchy’s offensive.
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