Associated Press

MANAMA: A civilian court in Bahrain postponed Monday a highly anticipated ruling on the appeal of two protesters sentenced to death by a security court during a wave of anti-government protests earlier this year.
Meanwhile, another high-profile case resumed Monday – the retrial of doctors and medical professionals who treated protesters injured during the Shiite majority’s campaign for greater rights in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom.

The trial has been closely watched by rights groups that have criticized Bahrain’s prosecution of civilians by the special tribunal, which included military prosecutors and judges. The tribunal was set up under martial law-style rule that was lifted in June.

In the initial trial at the security court, more than a dozen health professionals were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of up to 15 years on charges of attempting to overthrow the monarchy.
However, faced with rising international criticism, authorities subsequently ordered a retrial of the medics in a civilian court.

Both cases figured prominently in the probe by an international panel that investigated Bahrain’s unrest. The panel criticized the special security court in its 500-page report released last week. The report detailed abuses in Bahrain’s crackdown on protests and recommended authorities review convictions and sentences handed down by the special court.

The two protesters sentenced to death were convicted of murdering two policemen in April. Bahrain’s state-run news agency said the Cassation Court Monday postponed their appeals’ hearing until Jan. 9.
During Monday’s proceedings against the medics, the prosecutors brought weapons into the courtroom that they said were found in the medical complex where hundreds of protesters were treated during the unrest, according to defense lawyer Jalila al-Sayed.

Sayed told the Associated Press the prosecutors exhibited two machine guns, three boxes of light ammunition, several swords, knives and machetes, which they said were recovered at the state-run Salmaniya Medical Center close to the Pearl Square in the capital Manama after the military stormed the hospital last March.
The square became the epicenter of Bahrain’s uprising, inspired by other revolts across the Arab world.

The authorities saw the hospital’s mostly Shiite staff – some of whom participated in pro-democracy street marches – as protest sympathizers, although the medics claimed they treated all who needed care.

At least 35 people have died since February when protests began in Bahrain. Hundreds of people have been arrested, tried in the security court or purged from jobs.