Medical doctors in Bahrain have revealed that they were tortured, abused and humiliated at the hands of government officials and have named Bahraini Princess Sheikha Noora bint Ibrahim al-Khalifa as one of the perpetrators. According to media reports and interviews with the women, the princess is accused of beating the prisoners, electrocuting them and subjecting them to what observers and the women say was “torture.” One of the women, in comments published by Press TV, said that she was detained and beaten after being accused of supporting anti-government protests in the country. Roula al-Saffar said her interrogators attempted to force her and other medical staff to confess to plotting to overthrow the Manama regime. Saffar said that she was tortured by electric shocks and beaten by cables. She also said that she heard the screams of inmates who were being tortured by interrogators in other cells. Her remarks came days after another female Bahraini doctor, Nada Dhaif, recounted mistreatment at the hands of government's forces. Dhaif was sentenced to 15 years behind bars for treating injured anti-regime protesters at Salmaniya hospital. “It was 3:00 AM when they broke into my house. I was taken away blindfolded and handcuffed. I didn't know that they were security forces,” she told a number of international news outlets, adding that “they were in civilians clothes. So, I thought I was actually kidnapped.” Dhaif added that “I was thinking that I was being taken to an unknown place. Later on, I came to know that they were from the Central Investigation Department (CID).” “Immediately after I was taken away, I was treated with beating and cursing.” She then said the torturers touched her face, using “electrocuters.” “I was crying and I lost consciousness two or three times during this time in the military clinic.” Many of those released from jails in Bahrain have accused the Manama regime of serious abuse. She also charged that Sheikha Noora bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa personally beat prisoners with sticks and rubber hoses and gave them electric shocks. At least 35 Bahrainis have been killed since anti-government protests calling for greater rights for the majority Shiite community began earlier this year. BM
