Twenty Bahraini medics handed long jail terms for their role during anti-regime protests launched an appeal on Sunday, authorities and a defendant said. The doctors, nurses, and paramedics were initially tried and convicted in the military-run National Safety Court on September 28 on a raft of charges, including incitement to overthrow the regime.
They were handed sentences ranging from five to 15 years each. The government portrayed Sunday's hearing as a new trial, following widespread condemnation of Bahrain's Sunni-led regime in the wake of last month's sentencing. But defendants and rights activists said it was an appeal in civil court.
"Strictly speaking, this is an appeals trial. This is not a new trial," Human Right Watch's deputy Middle East director Joe Stork said, adding such politicised cases would have "the same fair trial problems as military courts."
Opposition ex-MP Matar Matar said the hearing was an attempt to "contain the international outrage" and accused the government of trying to mislead public opinion by saying the medics were being retried in civil court.