Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): Like the snake and ladder game, which he used to play as a child, Ali Al-Taweel sits staring at the prison’s tiles extending in front of him in solitary confinement, where no one shares him his long time except the unknown. Sitting like someone shaking the dice in his hands, with an eye on the snake that wants to swallow his age of 23 years, and the ladder he hopes to climb towards the end of the dream: the freedom heralded by February 14th  revolution.

Ali knows that the regime’s snake wanted to swallow and poison the revolution’s ladder. Hereby; the regime fueled the people against each other, and fabricated stories of sectarian killings and targeting. And for the whole scene to be complete; they had to have a victim whom they could frame, so Ali was one of those sacrifices.

He wonders! Which one he will get first; the regime’s snake or the revolution’s ladder; where freedom is? Ali closes his eyes and throws the dice...

“The court ruled in his presence  ... The first defendant “Ali Yousef Abdul Wahab Al-Taweel” to death penalty and the second defendant “Ali Atteyat Allah Mahdi Shamlool” to life imprisonment; when the first defendant ran over a Ministry of Interior policeman “Ahmed Ahmed Al-Muraisi” after the instigation of the second defendant on 15th of March 2011 in Sitra area, which led to his death.

Court adjourned

Military Court; 29/09/2011”

Ali Al-Taweel stares at the narrow three walls in his solitary confinement, which isolates him from the outside world for more than a year and a half. He memorises its details, the dents of its walls and the scribbles of its previous residents. He wonders what is written on the wall. Then he remembers that he cannot read or write! He goes back in his memories when he dropped out of school in the fourth grade like his four brothers. As a youngster he worked in the transportation of goods, and when he was older he became a driver of heavy vehicles. He remembers his passion for cars; he was encouraged by his brother-in-law who owns an auto repair shop. He recalls a picture of his beloved mother when he used to give her all his salary and takes from it only few dinars for his basic needs; he recalls the look of satisfaction in her eyes which gives him happiness.

He stares at the ceiling again, its fine cracks reminds him of how his family cracked since the imprisonment

 of his brother; two years his senior, in 2010. He was sentenced to seven years in jail in the case of burning an Asian’s car. Since that day, his mother closes the door at night for the safety of her children. He mockingly smiles at the similarity of the charges that kidnapped the life of the youth of his family: burning a .car

or run over by a car. Here it is; Jaw Prison; which has him and his brother, but he cannot see him except in the regular family visits every two weeks. He laughs as he recalls talking too much throughout the visit and how his brother tries to silence him, where he interrupts him: “you are in a better situation than me; you have fellow prisoners; while the silence of the walls surrounds me alone”.

Ali discovered too late that his ignorance of the country’s situation and his distance from politics did not save him. He never had the temptation to go to Pearl Roundabout not only once out of curiosity.  He remained preoccupied with his passion to learn the secrets of automobiles more than knowing what is going on the Pearl Roundabout. He comes home dirty with cars’ oil instead of polluting his simple mind with the concerns of

politics.  He stayed away from the Roundabout and even when Sitra was under siege in March 2011, he kept his distance from the disturbances, but caution was not enough to save him the hands of tyranny.

Ali counts the tiles of the floor of the prison, seven pieces lengthwise and others widthwise. He counts  23 tiles; his age; and wonders about the remaining  tiles of his age, will it be long as his family name means “Al-Taweel” or will it stop here. He extends his legs between the tiles, each piece of which reminds him of a chapter in his play; where he does not know how he suddenly became the leading actor in; but now lives it piece by piece with all the bitterness and pain…

Ali recalls the  memories of the chaos of that day, the thugs (armed civilians) storming the village , and being confronted by the people of Sitra; followed by reinforcements from the police and the entry of the Peninsula Shield forces. He was then in his brother-in-law garage nearby the police station. He asked his friend to take his car and park it beside the house because the security situation was not stable, but his friend could not, so he parked it next by his place instead, in the area which is very close to the concentrated presence of the thugs and army forces; those had smashed the people’s cars parked by the houses! His friend called him to tell him that his car had been wrecked. Ali went out quickly, but he was suffocated by the smell of the tear gas; he went to the Health Centre, and there he saw the head of the martyr Ahmed Farhan, and shotgun injuries fills the body of young men. He panicked and left the place and went to his friend's house.

The army then was away from that region, which was located behind the petrol station; he managed to take his broken-windows, stripped-numbers car to his house. Sitra was under siege for three days by the army, the city sank into silence; entrances were closed and helicopters flying at a low height, shooting at anything that moved.

Ali fixed up his car, and after a month his family left Sitra, but he preferred not to go out and he stayed at his sister's house because of its proximity to his work in the garage, which was located below the building. Ali suddenly shakes; a very painful memory; he extends his right foot on the next tile!

He closed his eyes firmly recalling the horrors of that day, which led him to this narrow cell. It dated back to April 19, 2011; the date on which security forces raided his home at six in the morning, and when they did not find anyone, they attacked his sister’s house, where he was arrested. He asked why; the officer replied: you'll learn shortly after beating you and “hanging” your body.

Outside awaited him 11 Security and civilians’ cars. He was dragged and beaten in front of the neighbours. They covered his face with his clothes and hit him harshly in the face, abdomen, back and pelvic area non- stop, this continued inside the car

along with insults: son of a ….. Shiites are traitors, Shiites are all bastards!

In Isa Town police station he was dragged to one of the rooms, knocked on the ground on his face and they raised his legs, the sound of the hose alone competed with his screams. He wonders: Why all this? What did I do?! He gets a reply: confess you ran over the policeman. You are a killer! Your relative Hassan Al-Taweel said he saw you throwing large pieces of your car windows outside the house. Al-Taweel screamed: I did not kill anyone, how come?! The glass of the car usually crumbles into small pieces in any accident, besides what’s the relationship of the broken car glass with the killing of a policeman?!!

This response was enough for him to obtain 13-hour of continuous torture; not interrupted by sleeping, eating or going to the bathroom or even praying. They had to get the job done in the Criminal Investigation Department in Adliya in the capital; he was taken there and they made him stand blindfolded in the corridor. He heard the voice of their in-charge ordering to torture him. After torturing them to skinned bodies, extraction of confessions becomes very easy.  The in-charge ordered them to bring him to the interrogation office. Al- Taweel recognised later that this in-charge was Colonel Mubarak Bin Huwail; who later testified against him in the military court. He began by asking: who incited you to run over the policeman? And who commanded you to do so? Tell the names of the “Shaikhs” (religious leaders) who ordered you? The questions are interspersed with batches of beatings. Bin Huwail resumed:  admit that you ran over the policeman and Mohammad Habib al-Miqdad incited you! The answer remained the same: I have not run over anyone, nor was incited to do anything!

Al-Taweel did not hold long with the extensive torture; not a piece of his body was safe from beating; not even his genital area where he had a prior surgery. He collapsed at the severity of the pain to confess anything, murder or even overthrowing the universe. The name of Al-Miqdad was mentioned as the instigator just as they wanted, and with it was mentioned every name known to him, including Ali Al-Shammlol who later was charged with incitement and sentenced to life imprisonment.

After extracting his confessions in one of the corridors; blindfolded, they stopped beating him temporarily; until they arrested Ali Al-Shammlol; who he had his share of the beating, but did not confess to anything he did not commit. At noon, Officer Salman Al-Ghatam asked Al-Taweel: Try to convince him to confess for your own good. They removed the blindfold of his eyes and tried to convince Al-Shammlol to confess. Al-Shammlol did not recognise “Al-Taweel” who looked like a mummy from torture. This scene was enough for Al-Shammlol to realise that his fate would not be different from Al-Taweel and that he had to confess inciting Al-Taweel to run over the policeman and get framed in the case.

Al-Taweel was worried and he asked for Bin Huwail. He said: we didn’t commit this crime. Bin Huwail replied: how come?! You’ve confessed. Al-Taweel: we confessed under torture and I'm sick and exhausted and I couldn’t tolerate torture! Bin Huwail: this talk has no place here.

Al-Taweel asked to contact his family and Bin Huwail replied: we will allow you to contact them at the condition that you don’t change your statement after the confession. He reluctantly agreed, at that moment he was only thinking to reassure his mother, her soft voice was on the other end of the phone: My son! He replied: Mom, have no fear, I'm fine. The tone of his voice was debilitating enough to imagine the obscenity they had done, she broke into tears, but he kept his composure, and did not tell her what had happened for a long time until they met the first time.

Two days later they brought Al-Taweel a written statement for signature, without reading it since he could not read or write. This encouraged them to forge his signature in the records of the investigation and the prosecution later.

Six days later, Al-Taweel and Al-Shammlol were put in one cell with another group of prisoners.  An Asian accused in a criminal case sympathised with them when he saw how much beating, swearing and insult were inflicted on those political detainees. He used to do some exercises for Al-Taweel to ease the pain of torture. In this period the military prosecutor came to sign their statements without interrogating with them!!

 

the creak of the iron door made  Al-Taweel open his eyes; it’s lunch time: fried chicken; he eats what he

 can, extends his  hands through a hole in the iron door and handing his colleague in the adjacent cell the rest of the chicken; since he was beaten in the abdominal area; he cannot eat well. He chooses to sit on the third piece of tile, completes his meal slowly and recalls his story. Six days later, they were taken to Qurain military prison. The treatment there was horrible, and the beatings and insults continued

until mid-June after nearly two months of detention.  The management changed and the treatment improved gradually; even food somewhat improved. The beating and torture stopped before the advent of the “Bassiouni Commission of Inquiry" who visited the prison at the time for a brief period.

After three hearings, the military court agreed to the request of his family for a lawyer, and in the fourth hearing, the lawyer and his family were present in the military court. The trials were suspended on 7/5/2011 and three months later, the military court issued

the death penalty for him and life imprisonment for Ali Al-Shammlol.

What are the circumstances adopted by the court to issue the death penalty? How true are they? Where did the policeman Al-Muraisi die? when? And how the defence refuted the allegations and demanded acquittal of Al-Taweel? 

This will be revealed in Part II of this report...

Ali remembers the National Security Court with pain; fate of human beings were determined there; the vo

of the judge  deciding his fate and sentencing him to death on 29-9-2011:

“As settled in the  court’s certainty  derived from reading its papers and investigations and Court hearings: that on 15/3/2011, in the period around noon,  riots broke out in Sitra area and there was a group of security forces to maintain order and to deal with terrorists, including the victim; and at the scene,  the first and second defendants were present as participants in the illegal gathering which was dealt with using tear

gas.

The second defendant hastened and asked the first defendant to use his car: Toyota Model 92 blue colour, to run over the Policemen.  The second defendant insisted on the first defendant who told him about his fear that the car might get stuck in the sand; so he told him to use the main Street (Sheikh Jabber) and come down on the sand by “Al-Tanmeyah” Bank and then come from the back to the police.

After thinking consciously for an hour about the idea of the second defendant, he got in his car and took the same route and took advantage of the presence of security forces, consisting of the victim Ahmed Al-Muraisi; and four others on foot in the sandy area. The first defendant took advantage of the preoccupation of the police to survey the area; and the second defendant was in an agricultural area watching the arrival of the first defendant in his car and quickly banged into the victim from the back; who flew into the air and fell to the ground.

So, Lieutenant Rashid Al-Jowder and Mudhaffar Ibrahim opened fire on the car by shotgun rifle, and they were not able to arrest the driver of the blue car. They went t to the victim and witness the effects of the injuries, and the victim was taken to hospital, when he died.

The car was damaged in the right side of the windshield and was repaired in a nearby garage in Sitra. The rear wheels of the vehicle were damaged by shotgun shots and were replaced with new tires. A witness “ Isa Al-Taweel” saw the defendant throwing glass in the garbage and when he asked  his friends, they told him that the first defendant had ran over the security men, and at sunset, he met the second defendant and asked him if the car was registered in his name, and he did not answer and told him that the license plate had fallen.

Two days later, he repaired his car and replaced the tires, and glass; and cleaned the splinters of glass inside the car. On Wednesday morning, 19-4-2011, he was arrested at the home of his brother-in-law in Sitra and when confronted, he confessed to what he had done and led the police to the place where he had hidden the tires in the private garage of their home in Sitra.”

Then the death sentence was pronounced, and Al-Taweel was shifted to Jaw prison, where he was kept in solitary confinement until this day!!

 Al-Taweel remembers how he cut the page of his innocence from Al-Watan newspaper number 2056, issued on Thursday :28-7- 2011 and showed it to his family; when the prisoners noticed that the death certificate presented in the paper showed that the policeman had died in Ma'ameer and not in Sitra.

On the other hand, Bassiouni's report proves that the police officer Ahmed Rashid Al-Muraisi died when he was run over by a car in the GCC Roundabout.

Also, the Kuwaiti Al-Watan channel hosted the in the program”tawa Al-lail” the columnis in Bahrain's Al Watan newspaper: Faisal Al-Sheikh and Hisham Al Zayani with lawyer Khalid Al-Shatti; Al- Sheikh stated that the person who was run over in GCC Roundabout was Ahmed Al-muraisi.

Also, “Al-Ayam” newspaper - local affairs editor: the third martyr Ahmed Al-muraisi   who was ran over in Ma’ameer “Attachment 5”

Also, Bassiouni’s report says in the note 10:30: According to testimony received by the Committee, “A relative of the deceased stated that she received a telephone call at 13:45 on 15 March 2011 from a friend who had heard of the deceased‘s death. The relative immediately went to BDF Hospital where that information was confirmed.”

How is it possible that the policeman Al-Muraisi dies in three places? Ma'ameer (the Ministry of Health’s certificate); GCC Roundabout (Official newspapers) and after a month and four days the Ministry of Interior chooses Sitra? and how the injured in the incident gets transferred to two hospitals: East Riffa as in the (death certificate), and the Defence Force Hospital as in (Bassiouni’s report)? And is it possible that a policeman gets killed and transferred to a civilian Health Centre and not to a military hospital such as the Bahrain Defence Force? And can the victim die at two different timings: at 14:45(death certificate) and 13:40 (Bassiouni’s report)?

Is it possible that a policeman gets killed and is written a car accident rather than run over accident? Why the delay in the issuance of the certificate of death? Why a friend called, and not the police, especially the deceased was on official duty? How credible are the three parties?!!

Those contradictions scatter on the tiles in front of Ali- Al-Taweel in his cell. He smiles with pain facing the death for a crime that contradicts itself. The game of snake and ladder reappears in front him; he seeks his dice; the Snake smiles and opens her whole mouth, preparing to swallow...

“H) Death of police officers and individuals from Bahrain Defence Force:

884. Four police officers514 and one BDF officer515 died during the relevant period. The deaths of three police officers are attributable to demonstrators.516

885. Police officer Ahmed Rashid Al Muraysi was run over by a vehicle at the GCC Roundabout on 15 March 2011.517 Two individuals have been convicted of this murder. A trial took place before the National Safety Court. One individual received a life sentence while the other received the death sentence.”

“Honorable judges  ... The defendant, being present before you for deliberate murder; the prosecution did not come to any evidence that points the finger to him. This is because:

• As stated in the accusation and all the police inferences and descriptions of the crime, that it occurred near “Al-Tanmiyah” Bank at the entrance of Sitra, but the death certificate indicates a different place; it states that the victim Ahmed Al-Muraisi died in

Ma'ameer area near East Riffa, which means that the victim is not the subject of the indictment due to contradictory places; which drops all the evidence. If the place of death differed; it raises suspicions around the deceased person at the scene of the crime;

This means that the incident occurred to someone else other than the victim, which drops the lawsuit entirely.

• The defendant was arrested after a month and four days of the accident.

• The evidence from the police to get the defendant is only the type and colour of his car.

• Five patrols did not pick up the car plate number.

• None of the witnesses saw or identified the defendant.

• The number of shots that hit the tires is unknown.

• According to the investigation’s evidence, 44 birdshot rounds were shot. It is known that these shots outpours to dozens of small metal pieces; up to 280 shots, while what have been detected were only 22 rounds, what happened to the rest?!

• Where did the shots in the car tires come from? Especially since the police confiscated the car on the same day of the arrest and was held by the police long enough to do whatever they wanted.

• Failure of the officer in charge Mubarak bin Huwail to attend the court hearings; and he had been notified to attend. That indicates that he cannot face the defendant because he is the person who tortured him.

• According to the report of the forensic doctor; surgery was performed on the defendant Ali Yusuf Al-Taweel in his private area and it wasn’t due to torture. Is it conceivable that the defendant comes in a wheelchair to the military court in all successive sessions if his injury was long time before the accident? And what is the reason he is in a wheelchair during the sessions? This shows that the injury in the private area was a result of torture by kicking; which led to forced confession, which the court must drop as evidence.

• How come there is a blood sample of the defendant and no blood sample of the victim? Supposedly the victim is the injured and not the defendant?! In addition; the police didn’t specify the place where the sample was taken and only stated that they took it out of the car, and did not specify from which spot of the car. Anyhow, the car is the property of the defendant and he might have injured himself while working on it and that has nothing to do with the incident, because the sample does not belong to the victim and that is the only proof for the examiner.

• The windshield glass is free of any shots which opposes the evidence report.

• The case before the esteemed justice of Court ruled the death penalty because  the public prosecutor alleged the determination and as it is clear to your justice that all manifestations  do not lead to  the defendant; so we  seek the following:

Requests:

• Accept the appeal form.

• Acquittal of the defendant for lack of evidence.

• In case: use ultimate leniency for the appealed.

The defence finishes its case.”

Al-Taweel did  not extend past the seventh piece of tile, which leads to the iron door. He stands rigid on the sixth tile and when he passes it, he either sees the sky without lines or remains in his cell or becomes underground.

Here Ali stands, raises his head with confidence, he looks only at the ladder, he tells his mother when she comes to visit with the implications of loss: "mom  ... go out and have fun;  I will be out soon don’t worry "

His mother hides her phone in the pocket of her dress, so that is closer to her ear when it rings. She waits for Ali’s calls as usual every Monday and Thursday, embracing the phone while talking to him as she is embracing Ali.  She raises her hand to pray.

However, it seems that kidnapping of two young men from this mother did not stop the hands of murder, in the recent wave of raids her third son got arrested in Sitra on charges of burning a police car also... Here stops the talk!!