http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/world/middleeast/bahrain-court-hands-down-harsh-sentences-to-doctors-and-protesters.html
GOODMAN, J. DAVID. "Bahrain Court Hands Down Harsh Sentences to Doctors and Protesters - NYTimes.com." NY Times Advertisement. Web. 29 Sept. 2011.
Summary:
This article takes place in Bahrain which is located in the Middle East and occurred on Thursday of March. The people involved in this article are doctors, protesters and the Bahrain court. What is occurring in Bahrain is that a protester named Ali Yusuf Abdulwahab al-Taweel killed a police officer and is sentence to death. However; the Bahrain court also wants to arrest the doctors for healing the wounds of the protesters. The situation soon became a dilemma for the country because many people such as the human rights group believed that the Bahrain court is committing a felony towards human rights.
The significance of this event is that Bahrain court are pressing charges against doctors because they treated the wounds of the protester which led the people to criticize how the government, court and law are being cruel with their punishment against the obligation of a doctor. The country is locally being affected because there are no doctors available to treat the patients and many people are continuing to protest against the law. The people will react in a harsh or upset manner because they believe that the court are being injustice towards the protesters and the doctors.
The Enlightenment thinker I chosen is Beccaria and he would view this article as an injustice towards criminal and none criminal who don't have a say for their actions. Beccaria will not support this situation because the court of Bahrain are being cruel but he will support the human rights group for defending doctors and preventing the court from sentencing the protester to death. The main idea of Beccaria was that criminals should be treated fairly and must not be torture or sentence to death. His ideas influence the USA by giving everyone the right to a speedy trail (Amendment 6th) and establishing amendment 8 which prevent unusual punishments or excessive bail in which the Bahrain court are doing.
