Manama: Bahrain’s Cassation Court on Monday upheld the sentences handed down by the Court of Appeals against medical staff.
Medics took their case to the cassation court after the appeals court in June acquitted nine of the 20 doctors and medics and handed terms between one month and five years for the others.
The medics, who were arrested in March and April 2011, were originally convicted in September 2011 by a special court and handed sentences that ranged between five and 15 years.
The appeals court reduced the sentences of Ali El Ekri from 15 years to five years and Ebrahim Al Demistani from 15 to three years after it dropped some charges and kept those of possessing and hiding weapons for a terrorist purpose and of illegal gatherings.
Seven medics were given lighter prison terms of less than one year.
Two of the defendants, Ali Hassan Al Sadadi and Qassim Umran, were tried in absentia and, under Bahrain’s law, their sentences could not be appealed.
The medics, all from the Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain’s largest public hospital, have been out of detention during their appeal.
