Sunni/Shia Middle East Conflict
One supposes that, though under the protection of Saudi Arabia, women in Bahrain were not held in thrall quite to the same extent, to fundamentalist sharia. The ruling family in Bahrain is Sunni, however, like the Saudis and in fact the majority of Muslims in the Middle East. But like majority-Shia Iran, Bahrain's majority population is Shia. And they live under the strict thumb of Hamad-Bin-Isa-Al Khalifa, their king-for-life.The revolt in Bahrain that Saudi Arabia and neighbourly Qatar helped put down with the assistance of their troops appears to have been resolved to the satisfaction of the ruling family. But they will have their revenge, isn't that always the way in such societies? They were particularly incensed that doctors and nursing staff at Salmaniya Hospital in the centre of Manama, had busied themselves giving medical aid to Shia protesters.
As a result the medical staff found guilty of appropriating a wing of the hospital to treat those wounded protesters have been put on trial without trial as it were, and found guilty as charged, and sentenced appropriately, some to 15 years' imprisonment for their unspeakably foul adherence to their medical oath.
What's more, a Bahraini princess born in the third tier of the Royal Family, a cousin of the current Queen, whose professional life is that of an undercover police detective (see that happening in Saudi Arabia!) has been accused by the prisoners of torture. A number of doctors, male and female have revealed that Sheika Noora bint Ibrahim Al-Khalifa was involved in their interrogation.
"She slapped me, beat me and called me a Shia pig. She put a cable in my ears and gave me electric shocks", said Nada Dhaif, recipient of a 15-year sentence. All the female doctors claim to have been threatened with rape by male guards during their interrogation. The country's human rights group insists that Al-Khalifa tortured a young woman jailed for reciting a poem criticizing the King.
Another doctor, 32-year-old Fatima Haji describes a severe beating after her April arrest. That Al-Khalifa found an email sent to Human Rights Watch on her BlackBerry and shouted at her "'How dare you destroy the image of my country?' Then she gave me electric shocks to my face", along with a five-year sentence for her role in the anti-government protests.
Labels: Conflict, Middle East, Misadventure
posted by Pieface @ Monday, October 03, 2011
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