Freedom For Bahrain Medics: October 2011

In the name of God the most merciful and precious

THE BAHRAINI MEDICS “CONVICTED BY MILITARY COURT

ON 29 T H SEPTEMBER ‘2011” STATEMENT REGARDING THE

PUBLIC PROSECUTOR’S STATEMENT ON THE TRIAL OF

MEDICS IN CIVILIAN COURTS

BAHRAIN RETREATS FROM ABOLISHMENT OF MILITARY TRIALS OF

MEDICS

The Bahrain News Agency and local newspapers revealed a statement made by HE the Attorney-General, Dr. Ali Fadl Al-Boainain, in which he declared that the Bahraini authorities have taken a new decision to revert our trial, we the Medics, to the civil courts in a manner of appeal; thus, confirming the determination of the Bahraini authorities to deliberately hold us accountable and have us punished as a result of executing our duty, which is obligatory by our humanitarian imperatives, the values of the profession, and the medical and professional oaths that we have all taken. Moreover, it clearly indicates the declination of the authorities in Bahrain from withdrawing the unwarranted cruel martial sentences that were levied upon us, which are unjustified under any legal platform; accordingly, and in order to clarify the image that has become distorted and confusing to the citizens, residents and concerned local and international organizations, we are obligated to highlight the following points:

1. The Public Prosecutor has affirmed the re-trial of doctors and medical staff, which was welcomed by many international organizations, which were not convinced by the procedures or trials. Yet the decision to transfer our case to the Court of Appeals advocates the adoption of the validity of the procedures and provisions established against our rights in the military courts, and that our referral to the Court of Appeal comes as a phase complementary to those of military trials under the name of the National Safety Court, which in the sense are still valid, and will take the subsequent provisions built on the military trails’ sentences, which is not consistent with Prosecutor’s title statement made to the public, that suggests the harsh military provisions against Medics have become obsolete.

2. The lack of guarantees and the manifestations of a fair trial was not limited to the type of court or its jurisdiction in order to allow us to make an assumption that virtuous decisions will be achieved once we are transferred to the civil courts; what is required to be available to us as defendants, as is the view of the security services, opportunities to appropriately and fairly defend ourselves as stipulated in the international conventions of the Universal Declaration of Human rights in 1948, which are not consistent with what was practiced by the security forces to extract fake confessions from the Medics under the systems of threats and torture. The aforementioned invites us to demand for a complete and thorough re-investigation as a whole in the presence of lawyers and representatives from the United Nations and under the monitor of international human rights organizations, as the prosecution's main witness is an officer of the General Directorate of Investigation and Criminal Evidence. The officer, a Lieutenant-Colonel, was personally involved in torturing the Medics to extract false and mocked confessions, and always referring to so-called “secret sources” for assembling information against the medical staff.

3. We strongly believe that we have been thru a painful period in the history of the nation, and that the measures for our arrest, interrogation and imprisonment have seriously and significantly violated different customs, international values, and the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Our confessions were fabricated and assembled on unacceptable and inappropriate procedures, since the confessions had been extracted under torture and coercion that were spitefully used to fabricated and fictitiously develop mass media materials, which leads us to demand that all charges be dropped and nullified based on the rule (what is built on falsehood is false).

4. We appeal to the United Nations represented by H.E. the Secretary- General Mr. Ban Ki-moon to urge the Bahraini authorities to deal with our case in a humane and just manner; to deal with us as Medics that have practiced their professional and humanitarian duty, as stipulated by the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian laws. Furthermore, we call upon the United Nations to direct the Chairman of the Fact-Finding Commission, Professor Mahmoud Bassiouni and the President of the neutral doctors of the United Nations to testify about the legality, appropriateness, and fairness of the investigation and prosecution; and to testify as well on the Forensic Doctors’ reports who had examined the injuries caused by torture.

We call upon all the dignitaries, personalities, humanitarian organizations and institutions, and non-governmental agencies to stand in solidarity with all the Medics in Bahrain, whether being prosecuted or not, who have had a major role in the treatment of the wounded, and have saved many lives during the late events in the Kingdom, which had a positive impact in reducing the number of casualties during the unrest period. The Medics are now professionally handcuffed with temporary cessation of work and the imposition of travel ban outside the borders of Bahrain, those unjust punishments do not only affect the Medics, but unfortunately distress lots of patients who are in need of them. We, the distressed Medics as a whole, support 67 of our children in total, as well as our anxious families, suffer both psychologically and financially from the ill-effect of this ongoing unpleasant hostile situation.

Members of the Medical Staff on trial

CURRICULUM VITAE

GHASSAN AHMED DHAIF

ORAL & MAXILLOFACIAL SURGERY

Dr.Dhaif sentenced to 15 years

GENERAL AND PERSONAL

Surname : Dhaif

Forename : Ghassan

Date of Birth : 08/06/1966

Nationality : Bahraini

Marital Status: Married

Dr.Ghassan Dhaif and wife

Dr.Zahra Al-Sammak (sentenced to 5 years)

UNDERGRADUATE CAREER

A. Dental School : King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

B. Teaching Hospital : King Saud University Hospital,

Riyadh Central Hospital

C. Grade Point Average : 4.1/5 (very good)

POSTGRADUATE CAREER

• Part I FDS RCS (Ed) May 1992

• Part II FFD RCSI May 1994

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor in Dental Surgery June 1990

• Fellowship of Faculty of Dentistry of the Royal College

Of Surgeons in Ireland (Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery) May 1994

APPOINTMENTS

• August 2007-2010 . Chairman of oral& Maxillofacial Department,Salmaniya medical Complex,Bahrain.

• April 2004. Senior Consultant Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon, SMC, Bahrain.

• April 1999. Consultant Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon, Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain.

• Sept 1995 to March 1999. Chief resident, Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain. Establishment of a Maxillofacial Unit with full range of maxillofacial procedures.

• June 1994 to Aug 1995- Registrar in the Maxillofacial Surgery at St. James’s Hospital. I developed a special interest in Craniofacial traumatology, Orthognathic surgery and Temporomandibular surgery.

The main areas of clinical experience:

a. Craniofacial Trauma. Special interest in polytrauma patients with craniofacial fractures where the treatment is done in collaboration with Neurosurgeons.

b. Orthognathic surgery. Single jaw and Bimaxillary osteotomies.

c. Temporomandibular Joint Surgery. Including arthroscopy, TMJ reconstruction and meniscal surgery.

d. Management of Cleft lip and palate patients. Including bone grafting and jaw corrective surgery.

e. Dental Implant.

f. Dentoalveolar surgery.

g. Management of Oral cancer.

• May 1993 to May 1994- Registrar in Maxillofacial Surgery at the National Maxillofacial Unit, St. James’s Hospital, Dublin. Working under care of Mr. F Brady and Mr. H Barry. The main bulk of work done in this unit is Maxillofacial trauma, Orthognathic surgery, Head & Neck oncology, Craniofacial implant, Cleft lip and palate and Dentoalveolar surgery.

• Oct 1992 to April 1993- Senior House Officer in Oral surgery and Oral Medicine at Edinburgh Dental Hospital under care of Mr. R Brown in Oral surgery performing Dentoalveolar surgery, Biopsies and dental Implants. Oral Medicine under supervision of Pro. D Wray and Pro. Southam.

• July 1991 to Sept 1992- Senior House Officer in Oral Surgery, Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain with Dr. Ramaraj.

• June 1990 to June 1991- INTERNSHIP

General Dentistry

Orthodontics

Oral Surgery

Periodontics

AFFILIATED POSITIONS

• Chairman of oral & Maxillofacial Department ,Salmaniya Medical Complex 2007-2010

• Chairman of outpatient clinic committee for accreditation

• Chief Editor of Bahrain Dental Society newsletter.

• Bahrain Representative of German Association of Dental Implantology

• Education Coordinator Oral & Maxillofacial Department, SMC.

• Chairman of scientific committee, Bahrain Dental Association 2004-2006.

• Dental Internship program coordinator, Ministry of Health, Bahrain 1995-2000.

• Chairman of scientific committee, Bahrain Dental Association 1996-1998.

• Chairman of Scientific Committee, Bahrain Dental Society 2004-2006.

• Chairman of scientific committee, 1st conference of Bahrain Dental Society.

• Chairman of scientific committee, 4th conference of Bahrain Dental Society.

• Referee to Journal of Bahrain Medical Association and Bahrain Medical Bulletin.

• Member in the Editorial Board of Journal of Bahrain Medical Association.

• Vice president for Pan Arab Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons 2001-2002.

• Member in Editorial Board of Journal of Arab Dental News 2005.

COURSES ATTENDED

• Primary FDSRCS (Ed), Riyadh, Feb 1992

• Final FDSRCS (Ed), Edinburgh, Jan 1993

• 3rd course on rigid internal fixation in maxillofacial surgery, Budapest, June

1995

• Course on surgical management of Temporomandibular joint disorders,

Vigo, Oct 1996

• AO course on surgical management of Craniomaxillofacial trauma, Davos,

Dec 1996

• Oral Implantology, Bahrain, April 1998

• SORG course on Distraction Osteogenesis and orbital disorders, Helsinki,

Sept 1998.

• Leibinger Resorbable Plating system, The Delta System, Dubai, January

2001.

• Martin RED System in Craniomaxillofacial Surgery, Egypt 2004. AO

• The Third Oxford Distraction Symposium, October 2004

• Seminar on Oral Cancer in the Asia Pacific- a regional update &

Networking,February 2006

• Workshop on Dental Education,Chennai,India,November 2006

• The International Workshop on Dental Education,November 2006

• Regional Cranio-maxillofacial advanced course,October 2008

MEETINGS ATTENDED

• Saudi Dental meeting, Riyadh 1991

• Norman Rowe Memorial Day, Edinburgh 1992

• Fourth RCSI Scientific Meeting, Dublin 1994

• Fourth Annual Overseas Meeting of RCSI, Bahrain Mar 1995

• Conference of the International Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, June 1995, Budapest

• Conference of the International Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Oct 1997, Kyoto-Japan.

• The International Conference of the Egyptian Dental Association, Oct 1997, Cairo.

• The Arab-American Association Overseas Conference, Dec 1997, Bahrain.

• The 10th Saudi International Dental Conference, March 1998, Riyadh.

• 1st Conference of Bahrain Dental Society, April 1998, Bahrain.

• The 2nd conference of the Syrian Maxillofacial Society, May 1998, Damascus.

• XIV Conference of the European Association of Craniomaxillofacial Surgeons, Helsinki, Sept 1998.

• 8th UAE Dental Conference, Dubai, March 1999.

• The 17th Jordanian Dental Congress, Amman, Oct 1999.

• 6th Saudi Dental Congress, Jeddah, Nov 1999.

• 11th Saudi Dental Meeting, Riyadh, March 2000.

• The 3rd International Conference of Syrian Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Damascus, April 2000.

• Annual Meeting and Symposium of the Saudi Club for Oral & Maxillofacial surgery, Riyadh, May 2000.

• The First Conference of Pan Arab Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons, Dubai, January 2001.

• Second Conference of Bahrain Cancer Society, Bahrain, March 2001.

• The 4th Conference of Bahrain Dental Society,December 2005

• 17th Saudi international Dental Congress,January 2006

• Bahrain British Dental Conference,February 2006

• The Sixth Syrian International And the Sixth Pan Arab Conference For Oral And Maxillofacial Surgery,May 2006

• Annual Saudi Dental Meeting,December 2006

• UAE International dental conference ,March 2010

• 9th Asian Congress on oral and Maxillofacial Surgery , November 2010

PUBLICATIONS

1. Dhaif G, Malden N, McDonald-Jankowski DS. Radiological assessment of unerupted maxillary canine. J Dent Res. 1993(27): 4.

2. Dhaif G, Kuriakose S, Sleeman D, Brady F. Frey’s syndrome following fracture of the mandibular condyle. Letter to the Editor. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Path.

80(1): 2; 1995.

3. Dhaif G, Barry H. Extraoral extraction of teeth-a case report. J Irish Dent Association. 42(2): 18, 1996.

4. Beirne JC, Brady F, Ryan D, Bhatia S, Dhaif G. Changing trends in mandibular fractures treated at the National Maxillofacial Unit, Dublin. J Irish Coll of Phys and Surg. 24(3), July 1995.

5. Beirne JC, Brady F, Dhaif G. Current treatment of mandibular fractures-an overview. J Irish Dent Assoc. 41(2): 30-31, 1995.

6. Dhaif G, Sleeman D, Barry H, Toner M, Brady F. Solitary plasmacytoma of the jaws-report of two cases. The Saudi Dent J. 8(2): 92-95 1996.

7. Dhaif G, Brady F. Bicoronal flap and interpositional arthroplasty in ankylosis of TMJ. Bahrain Med Bull. 18(2): 40-43, 1996.

8. Dhaif G, Sleeman D, Brady F. The pattern of maxillofacial trauma in Ireland: a prospective study. J Bah Med Assoc 8(3): 166-171, 1996.

9. Dhaif G, Ramaraj R, Magra A, Ahmed Y, Al-Sammak N. Mandibular fractures in Bahrain. Bah Med Bull. 18(3): 77-79, 1996.

10. Dhaif G, Ahmed Y, Ramaraj R. Ranula and the sublingual glands. Review of 32 cases. Bah Med Bull. 20(1): 3-4, 1998.

11. Dhaif G, Al-Sammak A, Al-Jowder M. Mental nerve neuropathy in sickle cell

disease: report of five cases. Saudi Dent J. 10(3), 1998.

12. Dhaif G, Sangam K, Nabar K S. Traumatic aneurysm of the internal maxillary artery- an unusual complication of loose teeth. J Bah Med Assoc 11(2), 1999:49-50.

13. Dhaif G, Habib M. Traumatic blindness following malar bone fracture. J Bah Med Assoc. 9(3): 184-185, 1997.

14. Dhaif G, Ramaraj R, Al-Sammak N, Al-Jowder M. Impacted Wisdom Teeth: An audit. J Bah Med Assoc. 12(1): 12-14,2000.

15. Dhaif G, A. Al-Hadi A. Oral Cysticercosis: a case report. Saudi Dent J. 12(2):

100-102,2000.

16. Mirza Yousif, Ghassan Dhaif. A tooth in the nose: an unusual cause of epistaxis.

J Bah Med Assoc. 13(3): 151-153,2001.

17. Dhaif G, Al-Durazi T, Al-Hashemi H. Cranial bone grafting in orbital reconstruction. Pan Arab Journal of Neurosurgery 1(3): 40-48,2002.

18. Dhaif G, Haffadh M, Al-Fardan A. Condylar hyperplasia of the mandible. Dental News. 5(5): 9-12,2002.

19. Dhaif G. Sternoclavicular and Costochondral grafts for TMJ reconstruction. Int J Oral & Maxillofac Surg. 30(suppl. A): S 80, 2001.

20. Dhaif G, Taj A. TMJ arthrocentesis for acute closed lock: Retrospective analysis of 40 consecutive cases. Saudi Dental Journal. 13(3):123-127, 2001.

PRESENTATIONS

1. Beirne JC, Dhaif G, Brady F, Allcut D. The definitive one stage treatment of complex craniomaxillofacial trauma. POSTER PRESENTATION AWARDED FIRST SURGICAL PRIZE AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF MEDICINE IN IRELAND, NOV 1994.

2. Dhaif G, Sleeman D, Brady F. The versatility of Bicoronal flaps in maxillofacial surgery. Overseas annual meeting of RCSI, March 1995, Bahrain.

3. Dhaif G, Haffadh M, Brady F. Alveolar bone grafting of cleft palate patients. Review of 41 cases. Overseas annual meeting of RCSI, March 1995, Bahrain.

4. Beirne JC, Kuriakose S, Dhaif G. The outer table cranial bone graft in periorbital reconstruction. Vth International Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons in training, Sept 1995, Amsterdam.

5. Dhaif G, Habib M. The role of 3-D CT scan in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery.

Paper presented at the Arab-American Conference, Dec 1997, Bahrain.

6. Dhaif G. Surgical management of maxillary tumors in Bahrain-SMC experience. Paper presented at the Arab-American Conference, Dec 1997, Bahrain.

7. Dhaif G, Habib M. Cranial bone graft for oral & maxillofacial surgery: state of the art. Paper presented at the 10th Saudi Dental Meeting. Riyadh, March 1998.

8. Dhaif G. Biological reconstruction of TMJ: a surgical frontier. Paper presented at the 1st conference of Bahrain Dental Society. Bahrain, April 1998.

9. Dhaif G. Surgical management of maxillary tumors in Bahrain. Paper presented at the 2nd conference of Syrian Maxillofacial Society. Damascus, May 1998.

10. Dhaif G. Sternoclavicular versus Costochondral grafts for TMJ reconstruction. Paper presented at the 11th Alexandria Int. Dental Congress, 11-13 Nov 1998.

11. Dhaif G, Al-Durazi T, Burashid K. Surgical management of orbital roof fractures. Paper presented at the 11th Alexandria Int. Dental Congress, 11-13 Nov 1998.

12. Dhaif G, Al-Alawi R. Transcutaneous approach for orbital reconstruction. Paper presented at the 1st GCC Medical Associations Conference, Bahrain 1998.

13. Dhaif G. Temporomandibular Joint arthrocentesis for acute closed lock: 3 years follow-up. 8th UAE Dental Conference. Dubai, March 1999.

14. Dhaif G. The versatility of genioplasty. Paper presented at the 17th Jordanian Dental Congress. Amman, Oct 1999.

15. Dhaif G, Al-Alawi R. Surgical recommendations in Class II dentofacial deformities secondary to vertical maxillary excess and mandibular deficiencies.

Paper presented at the 17th Jordanian Dental Congress, Amman, Oct 1999.

16. Dhaif G. The versatility of genioplasty. Paper presented at the Saudi dental

Congress, Jeddah, Nov 1999.

17. Dhaif G, Al-Alawi R, Al-Sammak A. Meniscoplasty of the Displaced Temporomandibular Joint Meniscus using a Micro-Anchor Endosseous Implant: A preliminary report. 14th International Conference on Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery- Washington DC, USA, April 1999.

18. Dhaif G. Pediatric Oral & Facial Injuries. Paper presentation at the 11th Saudi

Dental Meeting, Riyadh, March 2000.

19. Dhaif G. Pediatric Craniomaxillofacial Injuries. The 3rd International conference of the Syrian Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Damascus, April 2000.

20. Dhaif G. Panfacial Trauma in Bahrain: result of early surgical intervention. Annual Meeting of the Saudi Club for Oral & Maxillofacial surgery, Riyadh, May 2000.

21. Dhaif G. Arthrocentesis for TMJ closed lock: 5 years follow-up. 1st conference of

Pan Arab association of oral & maxillofacial surgeons, Dubai, February 2000.

22. Dhaif G. Sternoclavicular Joint versus Costochondral rib graft in TMJ reconstruction: review of technique. 1st conference of pan Arab association of oral & maxillofacial surgeons, Dubai, February 2000.

23. Dhaif G. Pattern of oral cancer in Bahrain. 2nd conference of Bahrain Cancer Society, Bahrain, January 2001.

24. Dhaif G. Surgical management of giant aneurysmal bone cyst of the mandibular

condyle: case report. British Association of oral and maxillofacial surgeons meeting Harrogate 6-8 June 2001.

25. Dhaif G. Distraction Osteogenesis of the facial skeleton: SMC-Bahrain experience. 18th Jordanian Dental Congress, Amman Oct 2001.

26. Dhaif G, Burashid K, Al-Durazi T. Craniofacial trauma in Bahrain. Doha

Neurotrauma Symposium, Qatar April 13-16, 2002.

27. Dhaif G. Distraction Osteogenesis of the craniomaxillofacial region: state of the art. 4th Int Meeting of the Syrian Maxillofacial Surgery Society, Damascus, April 2002.

28. Dhaif G. Bone Grafting in Maxillofacial Surgery. AEEDC, Dubai, March 2003.

29. Dhaif G, Fardan Abbas. Management of Dental Ectopia: a combined orthodontic/oral surgery intervention. 3rd conference of Bahrain Dental Association, Bahrain, January 2003.

30. Suha Al-Murbati, Dhaif G, Fardan Abbas. Surgically Assisted Rapid Palatal Expansion. 3rd Conference of Bahrain Dental Association, Bahrain, January 2003.

31. Dhaif G. Surgical treatment of Anterior Open Bite. 19th Jordanian Dental

Congress, October 2003.

32. Dhaif G. Distraction Osteogenesis in Maxillofacial Surgery. 5th Syrian

Maxillofacial Society, April 2004.

33. Dhaif G. SARPE using Glassman’s technique. 1st Gulf Dental Day, KSA, Sept

2004.

34. Dhaif G. Management of Class III Dentofacial Deformities. Fist Bahraini-Saudi

Dental Day, Dec 2004.

35. Dhaif G. Reconstruction of Alveolar Cleft in Cleft Lip & Palate patients. AEED, Dubai April 2005.

36. Dhaif G. Surgical-Orthodontic treatment of Long Face Syndrome. 35th Conference of Sudanese Dental Association, Sudan May 2005.

37. Dhaif G. Surgical Management of Skeletal anterior open bite. 2nd Gulf Dental Meeting, KSA, Sept 2005.

38. Dhaif G. Surgically-Assisted Palatal Expansion-Review of technique. The 17th