Bahrain Authorities Question 37 Security Officers After Complaints From Detainees

Bahraini concerned authorities have questioned 37 security men after complaints from prisoners and detainees for maltreatment and excessive violence against them.

The Special Investigation Unit (SIU), a monitoring body that investigates complaints by prisoners and detainees in security facilities, disclosed legal violations in the case of citizens sentenced to death.

This prompted the Bahraini Attorney General to request the Minister of Justice to revoke the death sentence and reopen the case file and trial.

The SIU dealt with 43 complaints during the first four months of 2018, involving torture, maltreatment and excessive violence attributed to servicemen affiliated with the public security.

Judge and SIU member Mohammed Youssef al-Zebari said that the panel had launched inquiries to investigate all the complaints.

Zebari said that the unit heard 50 complainants and 113 witnesses during the same period, questioned 37 accused servicemen from the public security and referred 10 complainants to medical examiner.

Five other complainants were referred to the SIU psychiatrist to examine them. The unit inquired into the complaints filed by Hussein Ali Moussa and Mohammed Ramadhan Isa, who were sentenced to death for killing a policeman and attempting to murder others in a terrorist explosion.

The unit demanded the retrial of the two convicts, taking into account the new elements in the case. The Public Prosecutor approved the proposal and referred the case to the Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Minister.

The unit has also finished investigating two other separate cases and referred two servicemen affiliated with the public security to the relevant criminal court.

The lower criminal court has also acquitted a suspect accused of assaulting a complainant during his arrest. It has also convicted 10 out of 13 public security affiliates and sentenced them to six months in jail.

The panel has also investigated complainant filed by tenants at a rehabilitation center, who claimed that policemen assaulted them physically.

Punitive disciplinary measures were also taken against three people accused of involvement in two separate cases. The unit followed up the cases, which were referred to the military courts at the Ministry of Interior.