Live streams

UN Human Rights Chief Slams Bahrain's 'Military Takeover of Hospitals'

Navi Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (File Photo)

TEXT SIZE - +

Last updated on: March 16, 2011 8:00 PM

U.N. Human Rights chief Navi Pillay has criticized what she called a "military takeover of hospitals" in Bahrain, calling the action "shocking and illegal."

Pillay said Thursday the U.N. had received reports of arbitrary arrests, killings and beatings of protesters and medical personnel.

Sunni rulers are seeking to quell month-long protests by the kingdom's Shi'ite majority and have declared a state of emergency to try to end the uprising.

Pillay urged the government to stop using force against unarmed protesters and allow the injured to get medical treatment. She called on both sides to engage in "immediate" dialogue for meaningful reforms and an end to the violence.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

Follow our Middle East reports on Twitter
and discuss them on our Facebook page.

Featured Videos

Your JavaScript is turned off or you have an old version of Adobe's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.

Video

Boston Bomber Spent 6 Months in Russia’s Most Violent Republic

The news of the Boston Marathon bombings circled the globe, and resonated here in Dagestan, a majority Muslim republic in Russia, on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Last year, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older of two brothers suspected of the bombings and a long-time Boston resident, returned to Dagestan, where he had lived for a year during his youth. Dagestan was the land of his maternal ancestors. But in the last two years, this republic of 3 million people has gained notoriety as the region with the highest level of political and religious violence in all of Russia. VOA's James Brooke reports from Makhachkala, Russia.