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28 March 2024

Police officers acquitted of torturing detainee to death

Published
By Eman Al Baik

The Dubai Criminal Court presided by Judge Mohammed Jamal Kamel acquitted 13 police officers of torturing to death a suspect in a kidnap and murder case in June 2010.

However, the court sentenced five of the officers to one month in jail and held them guilty of unlawful detention of the victim.

The convicts are four Emiratis RHK, 30, BMN, 25, GSM, 30, and AHM, 44, and an Omani SSM, 33.

Dubai Prosecution had accused each of nine Emiratis identified as ARA, 35, MAA, 30,  RHK, 24, ASM, 26, GSM, 30, BMN, 25, JIA, 32, RSR, 24, and AHM, 44, two Pakistani officers identified as KKH, 31, and SAB, 56, and two Omani officers identified as KHK and SSM, both 33, of torturing two suspects, identified as MS and SH, and torturing BK to death,  in a kidnap and murder case.

The Prosecution had also accused the officers of unlawful detention, abuse of power, excessive use of force during interrogation, forgery and leveling  false  accusations.

BK was detained in Naif police station on suspicion of kidnapping and murdering a Pakistani working in the lorry rental business in Ajman in May 2010. MS and SH were also arrested in connection with the crime but the prosecution found out that none of the three were charged in the kidnap and murder case.

The doctor at the police morgue, where BK’s body was taken, suspected the death and reported that the victim had sustained “massive bruising.”  He notified the prosecution and performed an autopsy.

Forensic reported that the cause of death was bleeding in the brain. The lawyer of the accused said bruises on the body of the detainee were not caused by the officer but were sustained before to his arrest and were due to a fight between him and the murdered person who was big and strong.

“BK sustained the bruises while carrying out the kidnap and murder of a powerful man,” Isa bin Haydar, the defence lawyer, told the court during a previous hearing.

MS and SH testified that they heard the officers beating BK who was being questioned along with them over the kidnapping and murder. A CID team tortured the three of them, the records said.

MS testified that he was hit in the groin with a metal bar and a wooden stick before being stripped naked and sprayed with WD40. Bin Haydar said WD40, an anti-rust substance, did not burn the skin. The container of the substance does not carry any warning that it can burn the skin.

The defendants, who include a lieutenant colonel, six lieutenants and six lower-ranking officers, had all denied torturing the detainee BK and the two other prisoners MS and SH.

The sentence is subject to appeal within 15 days.