Bahrain
12 April 2012
As Bahrain implements reforms following protests that started last year, a significant number of patients – from all political and religious backgrounds - continue to avoid seeking medical care in public hospitals due to perceived discrimination, harassment, and ill treatment, the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said today. In particular, according to information shared with MSF, a sizable number of people injured during political demonstrations and suffering from mild to severe orthopedic injuries, skin lacerations and respiratory distress—resort to private healthcare because of fear of arrest in public hospitals. The fear among those seeking care remains despite...
05 August 2011
MSF welcomes the release of Saeed Mahdi, and recognises that he has now been granted access to a lawyer. MSF firmly maintains that Saeed Mahdi was working with the organisation in the capacity of driver and translator. We remain concerned about the circumstances in which he was arrested. MSF is still unable to resume working in Bahrain without guarantees that its premises and personnel would be respected.
Read the Press Release: (03 August 2011)
MSF condemns armed raid on its office and dettention of its staff in Barhain
03 August 2011
Brussels -- The international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) today condemned an armed raid on its premises in Bahrain and the subsequent detention of one of its staff members.
On July 28, armed security personnel violently raided MSF’s premises in Manama, damaging office property and confiscating all medical and office equipment and supplies. A Bahraini MSF volunteer, Saeed Mahdi, who works with the organisation as a translator and driver, was arrested.
Since February, when demonstrations began in Bahrain, MSF has seen almost 200 injured and ill patients who did not seek care in health facilities because they feared being arrested for any...
31 May 2011
BRUSSELS - An employee of the international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has been detained for weeks in Bahrain after being severely beaten upon arrest by authorities, with no information provided about his condition and whereabouts, including to his family and lawyer.
Saeed Mahdi was arrested in Bahrain on the 6th May 2011, two days after his house was burned down by security personnel.
“Since Saeed Mahdi’s arrest, we don’t have any information about where he is being detained, why he was arrested, or what charges are pending” said Jerome Oberreit, MSF director of operations in Brussels.
Despite assurances by the Ministry of...
12 May 2011
Al Jazeera interviews Christopher Stokes, from MSF, about the abuse of medical workers in Bahrain
07 April 2011
Health Services Paralyzed: Bahrain’s Military Crackdown on Patients
07 April 2011
MSF calls for end to Bahrain military crackdown on patients
