AN IRISH delegation that travelled to Bahrain to highlight the plight of detained doctors there was referred to as “terrorists” by the head of the Bahrain Medical Society.
Members of the delegation are hopeful, however, that an independent independent inquiry by the king of Bahrain will deliver a positive outcome, following their meeting with the health minister there on Thursday.
The Irish Timesreported yesterday that Bahrain's health minister, Dr Fatima Al Beloushi, pledged to ask the king to release the 14 medics still in custody.
The Irish group of health workers and politicians led by orthopaedic surgeon Prof Damian McCormack arrived home yesterday morning and described the breaking up by pro-government medics of a press briefing they attended in Bahrain.
Dr Nabeel Al Ansari, chairman of the Bahrain Medical Society, called the Irish delegation “terrorists”, and on his Twitter feed yesterday said the “Irish group came to Bahrain supporting traitors”.
Three of the detained doctors, Ali Al Ekr, Basim Dhaif and Ghassan Dhaif, trained at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). Prof McCormack knows two of the medics and says their detention is referred to locally as “kidnap”.
The delegation, which included Independent MEP Marian Harkin, former minister for foreign affairs David Andrews, Senator Averil Power and Prof Eoin O’Brien, was critical of the RCSI for not doing enough to help the detained doctors.