Bahrain: Detained MSF Staff Member Released

BRUSSELS, JUNE 14, 2011 — A Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff member detained for weeks in Bahrain was released uncharged on June 11.

Saeed Mahdi was arrested in Bahrain on May 6, 2011. Neither his lawyer nor family were granted access to him throughout his detention period.

MSF welcomes the release of its employee and reasserts that it is engaged in purely humanitarian medical activities in Bahrain, where its team has been present since March 2011.

Since March 2011, MSF has seen close to 100 people too afraid to leave their homes to seek care in health facilities. MSF raised concerns about the loss of neutrality of Bahrain’s medical facilities, and the related deprivation of care to numerous sick and wounded people in a report issued in April, 2011.

MSF accepts no government funding for its activities in Bahrain, relying solely on private donations.