Bahrain doctors' sentences condemned

Medical workers sentenced to prison in Bahrain say they unwittingly found themselves in the middle of the protests that led to their sentences. The 18 doctors and two paramedics, who had been working at the Salmaniya Medical Complex in Manama during the spring protests, were sentenced Thursday by a military court to prison terms of five to 15 years. As protesters were chased away from the city's Pearl Square, they began regrouping on the hospital's grounds, where they felt safe from security forces, The Guardian reported. The medical workers have denied accusations that treating protesters amounted to supporting their cause and say they had a duty to treat everyone. "We were as far away from politics as you could be but we found ourselves in the center of it because we were treating the victims," said Dr. Ali al-Akri, a hospital physician sentenced to 15 years. The military court convicted the medical workers of subversive crimes, drawing international condemnation, with the United States calling the sentences deeply disturbing and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights saying it had "severe concerns." The doctors are among hundreds of people arrested in the past six months in the Sunni-led state that rules over a large Shiite majority, which it claims has ties to Iran. "It's all lies," al-Akri said. "We have nothing to do with Iran and we want nothing to do with Iran. There is not a single incident that they could point to that would reinforce the view that Bahrain's Shiites are carrying out an Iranian agenda." Among other things, the medical workers were accused of preventing some patients from receiving treatment, but al-Akri said security forces stopped ambulances, prompting medical workers to lead protests calling for the removal of the health minister. "We witnessed the atrocities. And because we did not obey (the government) we are being punished," al-Akri said.