UK doctors protest at sentencing of Bahrain medics

The British Medical Association (BMA) Saturday condemned the jailing of 20 medics in Bahrain for treating protesters injured during pro-democracy demonstrations in the country. “The BMA would like to express in the strongest possible terms its deep concerns at the sentencing of doctors and other health professionals in Bahrain,” chair of the professional association Hamish Meldrum said. “All the independent evidence points to a politically motivated trial which has demonstrated a disregard for proper judicial process and fundamental principles of medical neutrality,” Meldrum said. He said that British doctors have seen “nothing to convince us that this is anything other than a miscarriage of justice which will have very serious repercussions for the provision of healthcare in the future.” The jailing of the medics for up to 15 years by a military court has been widely condemned by human rights groups, including Amnesty International British Foreign Secretary William Hague has also warned that their conviction last could undermine efforts to establish long-term stability in the Persian Gulf state. Meldrum reminded the Bahraini authorities that health professionals have an “ethical duty to treat all patients, irrespective of their political allegiance,” “The BMA is shocked that these doctors are being persecuted for acting in accordance with their code of ethics,” he said. In a letter to the Guardian, he also pledged that British doctors would work with others to “continue to campaign for the human rights of the Bahraini health workers.” The BMA, established in 1925, is the professional body and trade union for British doctors and medical students to stand up for their rights and to maintain the ethics and interests of its members.