It seems hard to imagine that the situation in Bahrain, a small island country off the coast of Saudi Arabia, could be any more tense than it was when we were there in late March. The Shia majority have been pushing for more rights, and the Sunni-backed rulers have been resisting with brutal efficiency. We walked down streets littered with empty tear gas canisters and past buildings covered with anti-government graffiti. We talked to protestors who had had their homes raided, their children teargassed, their loved ones detained or killed. We observed a peaceful funeral procession descend into chaos as police tried to break down the barricades that marchers had set up. But it has gotten much, much worse over there. The fighting is now an almost nightly occurrence, and we are told "there are entire villages that are turning radical." A Bahraini source smuggled out this video to us, telling us that "people have to see what is going on." As the video shows, the Bahraini government has expanded the battlefield, cracking down not just on protestors in the streets, but also on Bahraini doctors and nurses who dare treat the injured. Earlier this week, six Bahraini doctors were jailed, after a court upheld their convictions for 'working against the state' when they aided wounded protestors in 2011. Their sentences range from one month to five years. Bahrain's hospitals have become militarized zones, with security patrols and surveillance cameras. Medics must report any injuries ...
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