The Irish fact finding delegation was a two-day fact-finding mission[1] composed of a group of Irish doctors, politicians and human rights representatives led by orthopaedic surgeon Damien McCormack[2] who visited Bahrain in mid July 2011 to determine the condition and secure the release of more than a dozen doctors and medical staff detained on anti-government charges during the 2011 Bahraini uprising.[1] According to Mr Andrew Anderson, of Front Line the primary purpose of the trip was to visit the families of those in custody to offer support and to gather information about alleged mistreatment of the detainees.[2]
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Since March, 47 Bahraini doctors, nurses, and paramedics have been charged and detained for supporting protesters during this year's pro-reform demonstrations that have swept across Bahrain. Another, a doctor, left the country without having been detained.[1]
In April, international doctors' organizations Médecins Sans Frontières and Physicians for Human Rights reported medical staff and patients were systematically detained from Bahraini hospitals by assailants allegedly acting on government orders.[3][4][5][6] UK medics have stated that Bahrain is violating the Geneva Convention.[6]
The delegation has requested meetings with senior Bahraini officials, including Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.[2] Meetings were also held with the Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, representatives of the public prosecution service and the acting Minister for Health.[7]
The latter, Dr Fatima bint Mohammad Al-Balooshi discussed the serious and credible allegations of torture by the Bahraini officials. The delegation politely listened to Dr Al-Balooshi’s version of events, in which she accused doctors of deliberately extending wounds and causing some of the deaths of activists in a bid to implicate the authorities. She stated that the Salmaniya Medical Clinic, in particular, had become a centre of political activity. The Irish delegation rejected Dr Al-Balooshi’s account, citing credible evidence of alleged torture, including prolonged standing, whipping and sexual molestation. “When I told the acting Minister, who is a doctor and also a Minister for Human Rights, that one of the detained doctors posed a suicide risk after enduring sustained torture, her face dropped a little and she said she would look into it,” said Prof McCormackhas.[8] In the end the minister told the Irish delegation that she will appeal to King Hamad to release on bail the 14 medics who remain in prison following anti-government protests last March.[7]
Over the course of two days, the delegation met a wide range of groups. Doctors who had previously been in custody recounted how they had been subjected to torture and degradation. The families of those still in prison expressed concern about their loved ones. And a visit was made on 15 July[9] to the home of Nabeel Rajab, the head of the Bahraini Centre for Human Rights who showed the delegation how his house has been targeted with tear gas for speaking out about human rights abuses in his country.[7] However, the delegation was denied permission to visit three Irish-trained doctors who remain in custody.[10]
The Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland has a long-standing partnership to train Bahraini doctors and some felt that the RCSI was pulling its punches to preserve the institutional relationship at the expense of human rights concerns.[11] RCSI said it was not involved with the visit of the Irish delegation to Bahrain.[12]
Three of the detained medics, Ali Al Ekr, Basim Dhaif and Ghassan Dhaif, were trained at the RCSI. Prof McCormack, who worked with Dr Basim Dhaif and Dr Ali Al Ekr in Ireland, is one of several doctors here who have criticised the RCSI for not doing more to press the authorities in Bahrain to release the medics.[2]
Prof Eoin O’Brien, a member of the delegation resigned as a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland over its failure to condemn the detention and alleged torture of the medics one month before the visit.[2]
During a news conference at the end of their visit to Bahrain on 15 July, 10 to 15 pro-government doctors and reporters for the state-run media approached the Irish delegation demanding to question them about their visit. As the pro-government doctors and reporters circled the Irish health workers in the hotel lobby, officials decided to call off the news conference. "That's not the sort of treatment we received when we were here," Andrews told a reporter afterward. "It's most unfortunate that we were bullied and intimidated by him and his representatives." He accused the president of the Bahrain Medical Society, Dr. Nabeel al-Ansari, of provoking the incident.[1] Nabeel al-Ansari called the Irish delegation “terrorists”, and on his Twitter feed said the “Irish group came to Bahrain supporting traitors”.[13]
The next day, Bahrain Journalists Association issue a statement in which they strongly condemned "the verbal and physical attack" on doctors by journalist Reem Khalifa. The statement accused Reem Khalifa, the wife of Mansoor Al-Jamri, the Editor-in-Chief of the independent Bahraini daily newspaper Al Wasat and a former opposition leader of verbally assaulting Dr. Nabil Al Ansari, attacking verbally and physically Dr. Hind Fayez and Dr. Hanen Harith.[11]
Some in Bahrain have criticised the Irish delegation’s visit as “interference”. They point out that an independent commission, made up of international judges and lawyers, has already been established to investigate alleged human rights abuses.[2]
Officials at the Bahraini embassy in London reiterated that they would prefer if the visit took place in October, when reconciliation talks, which began earlier in July, will have concluded.[2]
A statement issued by Ministry of Human Rights & Social Development criticized the delegation for entering Bahrain within a touristic visit, then requesting to conduct interviews with some officials.[14]