Bahrain Courts acquits policewoman arrested in journalist torture case

Bahrain ‘acquits policewoman in journalist torture case’
22 October, 2012 – by Muhammad Iqbal – AFP

DUBAI: A Bahrain court on Monday acquitted a policewoman who was charged with torturing a female journalist during last year’s crackdown on anti-regime protests in the Gulf kingdom, the claimant said.

“The court has ruled that Sara al-Musa was not guilty in the case of torturing me,” wrote Naziha Saeed, who is Manama’s correspondent for France 24 and Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya, on her Twitter page.

Local daily newspaper Alayam also reported the verdict on its website, but no further details on the verdict were provided.

Musa was accused of torturing Saeed when the journalist was in custody on May 22 last year.

The prosecution said in May it had referred the case to the “high criminal court because the defendant is a public servant in the ministry of interior and has used force against the victim to make her confess to a crime.”

“She beat her and caused her the harm described in a medical report,” a prosecution statement said.

The officer was charged with “attacking the body” of Saeed, by “slapping her, beating her with plastic tubing, kicking her in all parts of her body, in addition to insulting her,” the statement said.

Saeed, who reported on last year’s deadly crackdown on the Shiite-led pro-democracy protests, was summoned by police on May 22 last year, without any idea of what awaited her, said media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

Saeed said she was badly beaten and humiliated by several policewomen after she was accused of lying in her reports. She was released after midnight, and days later the interior ministry announced proceedings against those accused of mistreating her.

An international probe commissioned by King Hamad accused police of using excessive force and torture in last year’s crackdown, which was backed by troops from Bahrain’s Gulf neighbours. …source