Echoing the Attorney General’s earlier statement, Al-Sayyed said that the acts of the remaining accused, such as breaching patient confidentiality, politicising the hospital and discriminating between patients based on sect, are most appropriately dealt with as breaches of the code of ethics for medical professionals. All of these acts, and more, are also described in the Report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry.
Accordingly, Al-Sayyed requested the Court to transfer the case against the remaining accused to the medical disciplinary board.
Al-Sayyed pointed out that the Public Prosecution remains true to what it has always maintained ever since the first hearing in this case, which is the approaching of charges objectively and fairly, and the presenting of evidence without wasting the court’s time or extending the case without a good reason. This was the reason why last year the Attorney General had dropped some charges against the accused and had decided not to rely on any confession evidence.
Al-Sayyed considered the decision to focus only on some of the accused and the hearing of witnesses in Thursday’s hearing to be a positive step towards resolving the case in a manner that is proportionate and fair.