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On 14th June 2012 verdicts were given following an appeal.
Nine medics were acquitted of all charges. They are: Dr Ahmed Omran, Rula Al Saffar, Sayed Al Wedaie, Dr Nada Dhaif, Dr Fatima Haji, Dr Najah Al Haddad, Dr Zahra Al Sammak, Dr Hasan Al Tublani and Mohammed Faiq Ali.
Nine medics had their sentences reduced as follows: Dr Nader Diwani (1 month), Dr Mahmood Asghar (6 months), Dr Abdulkhaliq Aloraibi (1 month), Dr Bassim Dhaif (1 month), Dheya Ibrahim AbuIdris (2 months), Dr Ali Al Ekri (5 years), Dr Ghassan Dhaif (1 year), Dr Saeed Al Samahiji (1 year), Ibrahim Al Demistani (3 years).
Two medics were convicted in absentia to the original 15 years in prison, since they have left the country and are not expected to return. They are Ali Al Sadadi and Qassim Omran.
Lawyers appealed against these verdicts but on 1st October this appeal was rejected and on 2nd October 2012 six of the medics were rearrested to complete their terms in jail, the other four already having completed theirs. Details of all medics now in prison can be read here.
- All charges should be dropped.
- The medics should be reinstated to their jobs and fairly compensated.
- Torturers should be brought to justice.
Previous Statements Regarding Appeal
- On 5th October the Bahraini Public Prosecutor released this press release to the International press stating that the medics were to receive a retrial before civilian court:
051011.New Trials Ordered for Medical Staff.Press Release - On 16th October the medics released this press release, expressing their concern that they have not actually been granted a retrial, rather only an appeal, which is to be heard on 23rd October:
Medics Press Release In Response to Public Prosecutor Statement - This is a fact sheet handed out by the Public Prosecution in court on 23rd October regarding the proceedings:
Public Prosecution statment on 23 Oct 2011 distributed in Appeal Court - This is the response from the medics’ lawyers, released on 24th Oct:
Arabic & English Medics’ Lawyers statment in reply to PP statement on 23 October 2011
Original Charges
The total list of charges was as follows:
- the possession of unlicensed weapons and ammunition;
- the attempt of forcefully occupying a public building (Salmaniya Hospital);
- promotion to bring down and change the regime by illegal means;
- the confiscation of medical equipment;
- spreading false news about the wounded;
- inciting hatred against the governing regime;
- promoting sectarian hate;
- disrupting the implementation of laws;
- participating and supporting unlicensed protests and rallies;
- refraining from carrying out employment duties, in aim of hindering medical work and consequently endangering people’s health and lives;
- not informing the authorities of felonies;
- inciting employees to non implementation of laws;
- detention (of policeman) by force;
- destroying equipment belonging to the hospital.
Note that not all of the doctors were charged with all the above. The table below shows who was charged with what exactly. Note also that this table has yet to be verified with all of the people listed – if you are one of the medics on trial or one of the lawyers and you notice an error in this table please let us know via our contact form.
- Table of Charges
Read personal testimonies from the doctors here regarding what happened to them.