U.N. condemns Bahrain over jail terms for doctors

GENEVA (Reuters) - Bahrain's handing down of harsh sentences to 20 doctors followed flawed trials that failed to meet international standards of transparency and due process, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday.

The World Medical Association also condemned as "totally unacceptable" the jail terms imposed by a military court, while the World Health Organisation said medical personnel should never be punished for doing their duty of treating all patients.

A security court sentenced 20 doctors to jail on Thursday for between 5 and 15 years on theft and other charges, the state news agency said, in what critics claimed was reprisal for treating injured protesters during unrest in the Gulf kingdom this year.

"For such harsh sentences to be handed down to civilians in a military court with serious due process irregularities raises severe concerns," Rupert Colville, spokesman for U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, told reporters.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Janet Lawrence)