BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 18 (UPI) -- Targeting members of the medical community is part of an effort by the monarchy in Bahrain to silence critics, Human Rights Watch said from Beirut.
Physicians for Human Rights in April said it had forensic evidence to suggest Bahraini security forces attacked medical staff and patients with bullets and chemical agents.
At least 47 healthcare workers were charged with various crimes since protests broke out early this year.
In March U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay described the March 16 seizure by security forces of a hospital in Bahrain as "shocking and illegal conduct."
Human Rights Watch in a 54-page report said it had documented "serious government abuses" against medics and patients wounded during opposition protests.
The United Nations in early July praised Bahrain for launching a national dialogue secession following early criticism that the minority Sunni-led monarchy was using a heavy hand against a Shiite uprising early this year.
But Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said targeting the medical community was part of an official policy against pro-democracy forces in Bahrain.
"Officials justify the government's crackdown and the arrests of the medics by alleging that they violated the principle of medical neutrality and committed heinous crimes," he said in a statement. "Yet they have failed to provide any convincing evidence that their actions are anything but a campaign of retribution aimed at silencing government critics."
