Bahraini Authorities Admit Attack on MSF Office
The Bahraini authorities acknowledged that its troops attacked the office of the humanitarian medical organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecine Sans Frontières (MSF) in Manama.
This confirmation came a day after MSF criticized the Bahraini regime's armed raid against its office, calling it a "breach of the sanctity of an office maintained by a neutral medical humanitarian organization", Agence France Presse reported.
However, the Bahraini authorities defended the raid claiming that the organization lacked the required permission to work in the capital Manama.
In this context, Bahrain Health Minister said in a statement on Thursday, "As MSF was aware, a license was required to provide health services in Bahrain in the current normal circumstances. The existence of this centre was not known to the relevant Bahraini authorities".
MSF had previously issued a statement in which it affirmed that the Bahraini forces raided its Manama office, confiscated its medical equipments, and detained volunteer staff member Saeed Mahdi.
The Paris-based humanitarian medical organization clarified that "despite only assisting MSF and a patient by calling an ambulance, Saeed Mahdi remains detained. Repeated request by MSF, his family, and his lawyer to have access to him have been denied".
Furthermore, MSF has explained its transparent intensions regarding its work with the Bahraini authorities including the Ministries of Health and Interior; however those intentions were not met with good faith.
Source: News Agencies
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