Bahrain Regime frees Policemen on murder charges while new child murders by Policemen continue unchecked

Bahrain: Impunity for protesters’ killers: acquittal of 2 policemen and a light sentence for the third
ABNA.co -3 October, 2012

To this day, Bahraini courtrooms are being ruled by a culture of impunity and a corrupt judicial system. The policemen accused of killing of Isa Abdul Hasan, Ali Al Moamen and Hani Abdulaziz who were murdered last year have either been ruled innocent or given light sentences despite their deliberate killing of unarmed peaceful protesters….

Bahrain: Impunity for protesters(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – To this day, Bahraini courtrooms are being ruled by a culture of impunity and a corrupt judicial system. The policemen accused of killing of Isa Abdul Hasan, Ali Al Moamen and Hani Abdulaziz who were murdered last year have either been ruled innocent or given light sentences despite their deliberate killing of unarmed peaceful protesters. This comes at a time where human rights defenders are being jailed for tearing up photos of the King[1].

On 27 Sep 2012, the high criminal court acquitted 2 security men from the murder of Isa Abdul Hassan (60 years old) and Ali AlMoamen (23 years old) on Feb 17, 2011, after a show trial that lasted for months on charges of “accidental murder”. Isa and Ali were killed during the attack on the early hours of February 17 2011, when the Bahraini regime violently attacked the Pearl roundabout where protesters were camping out to demand their rights to democracy and to self-determination. They conducted a pre-dawn attack without warning, endangering the lives of women, children and elderly who were present at the peaceful sit-in. This lead to many injuries and four brutal deaths.

The public prosecution failed to press charges of deliberate murder despite evidences of shooting from very close range, and testimonies of eye-witnesses. Isa Abdulhasan was shot on the head at close range and Ali AlMoamen was killed by a shot on each of his legs, where the canister was shot directly at his body, however the public prosecution pressed charges of accidental murder. The charges were changed by the court to deliberate murder only few weeks before the verdict session. The two security men, one of them of Arab nationality and the other one Bahraini nationality, did not attend the trial as they were not under arrest. The court rejected the repeated requests of the deceased’s’ lawyers to arrest the defendants to avoid their escape, given that one of them is non-Bahraini and he can leave the country[2]. The officer who gave the order to shoot the protesters was presented to the court as a defense witness and when the lawyer requested to have him as a defendant the request was ignored. The public prosecution denied existence of any record of the murder by the hovering helicopter, in contradiction with a testimony given by one of the security officers confirming existence of the record[3].

Isa Abdul Hassan’s death was caused by shotgun pellets shot at his head from a very close range, as close as a few centimeters. The shot was aimed at his forehead, leading to his head to split open[4]. Nazeeha Saeed is a Bahraini journalist who was present at the scene and witnessed the killing of Isa Abdul Hassan. She gave her testimony at court and she was arrested and tortured for saying the same on media last year[5]. Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) investigated into the case and concluded that: “The death of Mr Hussain can be attributed to the use of excessive force by police officers. The fact that the deceased was unarmed and was shot at close range in the head indicates that there was no justification for the use of lethal force.”[6] An investigation was launched by the Ministry of Interior (MOI) and on July 6 2011, two police officers were referred to the Military Court. …more