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Rights groups slam Bahraini crackdown
[Al Jazeera] Rights organisations are calling on the Bahraini government to halt what they term human rights
...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
violations, and to stop a crackdown on hospitals where doctors and patients suspected of being sympathetic to pro-democracy protests have been placed in durance vile.

In separate statements on Friday, Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), Amnesia Amnesty International and Physicians for Human Rights slammed the government's attacks on medical staff.

London-based Amnesty urged the international community to step in to stop the crackdown, or risk being accused of having "double standards".

"North American and European governments, so vocal recently in espousing the cause of human rights in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt, need also to speak out loudly about what is going on in Bahrain," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesia Amnesty International's director for the Middle East and North Africa.

"To avoid the charge of double standards, they must be much more robust in pressing the Bahraini authorities to uphold their international human rights obligations."

In a statement on Friday, Huda Nunu, Bahrain's ambassador to the US, denied the allegations.
No, no! Certainly not!

Nunu said that the kingdom had not targeted or attacked doctors and patients and that the medical establishments in Bahrain were operating normally.

'Cleverly planned'
In a new report, Amnesty accused the Bahraini government of launching "a cleverly planned and orchestrated crackdown using excessive force to suppress protests calling for political change and reform".

Amnesty said that security forces' use of shotguns, rubber bullets and tear gas, as well as live ammunition in some cases, was unjustified.

It said that more than 500 people have been placed in durance vile in the last month in the tiny Gulf island country, which has seen a series of protests against the current monarchy-led government since February 14.

At least four detainees have died while in jug under "suspicious circumstances", Amnesty said.
Posted by: Fred 2011-04-24
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=321087