Bahrain doctors deny stealing medicines or stockpiling arms

Accused doctors plead not guilty to charges relating to period of unrest in February as Bahrain continues controversial trial

guardian.co.uk, Ian Black, Middle East editor, Monday 13 June 2011

Pro-reform protesters raise signs reading 'a country for all' at a rally in Saar
village last week. The government continues the military trial of Bahraini doctors
accused of theft. Photograph: Mazen Mahdi/EPA

Bahrain has defied international criticism by continuing the military trial of dozens of medical personnel accused of trying to topple the government. Twenty doctors pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges ranging from stealing medicines to stockpiling weapons during the unprecedented unrest that erupted in the small Gulf islandstate in February, between the uprisings that overthrew the presidents of Tunisia and then Egypt.

A second part of the hearing, where the defence could have cross-examined prosecution witnesses, was deferred until next week over legal challenges to the court's jurisdiction and requests for independent medical examinations.

The defendants looked healthier and better dressed than during a previous court appearance, but several of them wept as they told the judge they had been tortured and forced to sign false confessions, a relative told the Guardian.

"It's the first time in Bahrain's history that such highly-educated people have been accused of crimes in this humiliating way," the relative said.

Bahrain, where the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty rules over a restive Shia majority, is trying to restore calm and repair the government's battered reputation after facing widespread condemnation of its suppression of the unrest. Earlier this month it lifted the state of emergency imposed when the trouble erupted.

Many of the defendants – 24 doctors and 23 nurses and paramedics – worked at the Salmaniya medical complex in the capital Manama, which the government says was a co-ordination point for protests. Ten of them were released last month, but are not allowed to leave the country.

Prosecutors alleged that automatic weapons and ammunition were discovered in the hospital, that the defendants "hijacked" the building, used violence and kidnapped the people inside.

Security outside the court was intense and the only Bahraini journalists allowed in were from the state news agency.

Amnesty International and other human rights groups have urged the Bahraini authorities to independently investigate claims that dozens of doctors and nurses were tortured and made to sign false confessions.

Relatives of the accused have said that officials of the criminal investigations directorate forced detainees to stand for long periods, deprived them of sleep, beat them with rubber hoses and wooden boards containing nails, and made them sign papers while blindfolded.

The US, whose 5th fleet is based in Bahrain, has condemned the violence but has stopped short of any measures against King Hamad's government.

Bahraini activists say they believe the government wants to speed up the doctors' and other security trials before the start of a "national dialogue" about future reforms next month.

In another development , 30 students were reportedly expelled from Bahrain polytechnic for expressing their opinions on Facebook and Twitter.

On Sunday, seven people were sentenced to prison terms of one to six years for convictions that ranged from illegally storing weapons to the attempted murder of policemen. Twenty people were brought in for another hearing on charges about the use of violence in protests that blocked off the kingdom's financial district, but their trial was postponed.

A female poet was sentenced to a year in prison on charges of joining illegal protests and incitement against the monarchy. Ayat al-Qurmezi was arrested after reciting poems which mocked the king and prime minster at Pearl roundabout, the focal point of the protests, where activists camped out for six weeks in February and March.

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