Bahrain: targetting the medics

A Physicians for Human Rights investigation last month into the brutal and systematic abuse of pro-democracy protesters has resulted in some disturbing, yet perhaps predictable, findings.

The reports authors - both medical doctors - conducted interviews with 47 medical workers, patients and other eyewitnesses and corroborated testimonies by conducting physical examinations of beaten and tortured protesters, as well as deaths in custody. The report also produced strong evidence that the al-Khalifah regime had systematically targetted medical staff, including abductions of doctors, some of whom were taken from their homes in the middle of the night by security forces. The report concluded that the Bahraini authorities:

• Attacked ambulances; removed ambulance medics, and forced them to give their uniforms to police who then posed as medics to get closer to protesters;
  


• Prevented ambulances from reaching people who needed medical care;



• Blockaded health facilities and obstructed delivery of care;



• Militarized the country's main tertiary care hospital, preventing medical staff and patients from entering or leaving;



• Destroyed medical records;



• Abducted medical professionals, detained and held them incommunicado;



• Hunted down patients wounded in protests by searching medical centers and setting up police check points;



• Humiliated, beat, and tortured patients while in medical centers;



• Forcibly discharged patients in need of urgent medical care.

Of course, Bahrain's security forces are the backbone of the al-Khalifah regime with large numbers of their personnel recruited from other countries, including Jordan, Pakistan and Yemen (a main reason why the GCC's club of Kings is making overtures to Jordan and its well trained security forces). Bahrain's Shia majority, meanwhile, is mostly excluded from positions in the security forces.