Prosecutor requests death penalty for 19 acquitted men as court adjourns case to March 28
Bahrain’s public prosecutor on Sunday requested the death penalty for 19 men accused of murdering a policeman but acquitted by the High criminal Court in October.
The men had been tried for their alleged role in the death of Majid Asghar Ali Baksh, a 24-year-old Pakistani policeman, in an ambush near Karazakan, a village around 20 kilometres south west of Manama, the capital.
Prosecutors argued that his police patrol car had been showered with Molotov cocktails and stones in April 2008.
However, the suspects have denied the charges and their lawyers contested the evidence against them. Following a long trial the court ruled that there was no evidence against the men and allowed them to go home on October 13. The acquittal was celebrated with great fanfare and amid widely reported scenes of jubilation in Karazakan and other villages.
However, the public prosecutor in November appealed against the acquittals and rejected the court’s explanations, claiming the court had not understood the circumstances of the case and that its decision was built on “assumed premises that clashed with the reality on the ground and the relevant reports.
The prosecutor said that the court based the acquittal on the “weak evidence” and issued a statement calling for “justice to prevail”.
The Court of Appeals will issue its final verdict on March 28, but allowed the 19 men to go home, warning them that they would be arrested if they failed to appear before the judge next month.
