Bahrain Mirror: Bahrain's first high criminal court presided over by judge Mohammad bin Ali Al Khalifa and membership of judges Dia' Huraidi and Issam Eldeen Mohammad Khalil and Naji Abdullah as secretariat acquitted on Wednesday (September 2, 2015) 5 members of security forces accused of torturing a detainee over charges of selling drugs and causing him disability estimated as 2%, and refused the criminal lawsuit.

The 5 suspects denied the charges brought against them in a previous hearing.

The attorney-general of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), Nawaf Abdulla Hamza, has announced earlier that the unit referred five policemen, including a lieutenant, to the high criminal court after it finished its investigations in the case referred to the unit by the Public Prosecution in which a person accused of drug possession for the purpose of selling them sustained injuries after being arrested and questioned. The SIU began an investigation into the case as soon as it was referred to it by asking the defendant who said that the suspects had assaulted him while questioning him in order to extract confessions and information from him regarding the charges brought against him. SIU assigned the forensic physician of the unit to examine the defendant and check his injuries, their causes and when they were inflicted. The physician's report concluded that the injuries might have took place according to the defendant's narrative.

The SIU accused the suspects saying that they, along with other unknown persons, have deliberately caused the defendant severe pain and physical and moral sufferings aiming at extracting confessions from him. They tied his hands with a piece of textile and hung him to a ladder several times. They assaulted the defendant causing him a permanent disability without intending to do so. As a result, his pinky and ring finger stopped moving simultaneously and he has a 2% numbness in his left hand's tissues.

The unit accused the suspects that since they are official employees in the Ministry of Interior performing their duties, along with other unknown persons, they insulted the defendant and his family for an illegitimate aim without bringing a specific case against him.

It is noteworthy that the suspects are waiting for another trial over the same charges with another defendant.

Arabic Issue