بيان فرونت لاين حول جمعية التمريض و الدمستاني
 

بتحركات مشتركة من قبل جمعية شباب البحرين لحقوق الإنسان و مركز البحرين لحقوق الإنسان على المستوى الدولي ، اصدرت منظمة فرونت لاين للمدافعين عن حقوق الإنسان بيان حول السيد ابراهيم الدمستاني ( امين سر جمعية التمريض البحرينية )


Bahrain: De facto closure of the Bahrain Nursing Society

Posted on 2010/03/26 http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/fi...ake_action.pngThe Bahrain Nursing Society, founded in 1991 and located in the State Hospital in Salmaniya, was de facto closed on 23 March 2010, allegedly by the Ministry of Health.
Further Information

The Bahrain Nursing Society focuses its work on defending the rights of its members - who are mainly nurses - working in the health sector. It has a license to operate and functions within the realms of the law.
On 23 March 2010, just before 7am, the Society's administrator went to the Bahrain Nursing Society's office and discovered that the locks had been changed.
According to information received, the de facto closure of the Bahrain Nursing Society is directly related to a reception scheduled to take place in the office on 23 March to welcome the release, on 21 March 2010, of Mr Ibrahim Al-Dimistani, the Secretary-General of the Society. Ibrahim Al-Dimistani had been arrested on 17 March 2010 for “hiding and harbouring a fugitive”, under Article 256 of the Penal Code. The “fugitive” was a protester who was badly injured during a demonstration in the village of Kazakan on 14 March 2010. Ibrahim Al-Dimistani provided him with first aid and recommended him to go to Salmaniya hospital for further treatment.
This is not the first time that the Bahrain Nursing Society has been targeted. In August 2008, the office of the public prosecutor charged Ms Rola Al-Saffar, president of the Bahrain Nursing Society, and Ibrahim Al-Dimistani, with defamation and insulting officials from the Ministry of Health. However, in April 2009, a judge acquitted Rola Al-Saffar and Ibrahim Al-Dimistani of the charges against them.
The 2010 Annual General Meeting of the Nursing Society unanimously elected its new board members. However, the Ministry of Social Development has refused to recognise the new board.
As a direct result of the activities carried out by the Society, including a campaign to improve the working conditions of nurses in hospitals, the Ministry of Social Development also tried to take over the Society. In 2008, the Ministry appointed an acting manager for the Bahrain Nursing Society in an attempt to cancel a protest organised by the Society at that time. However, members of the Society refused to co-operate with the newly-appointed manager.
Front Line believes that the de facto closure of the Bahrain Nursing Society is directly related to the Society's human rights activities. Front Line also considers this de facto closure as well as the harassment, intimidation and denial of registration of human rights organisations such as the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights as an infringement of the rights to freedoms of association, assembly and expression enshrined in Bahrain national law and the international human rights treaties and standards which Bahrain is party to.
This last event takes place at a time when the government of Bahrain is trying to show the international community its commitment to human rights. Front Line would like to remind the Bahrain government of its voluntary pledge, made during Front Line's mission to Bahrain from 11 to 14 January 2010, to protect and promote human rights at national level.