Report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry

Report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry
witness then heard a Pakistani say in Urdu, “He is dead.” After about one
minute, the detainees were all moved to a different cell where they remained
for the rest of the day. They were not allowed to leave their new cell. The
witness reported that the following day, the detainees’ blindfolds and
handcuffs were removed and their general treatment improved.
1000. The death of Mr Asheri is attributed to torture at the Dry Dock
Detention Centre. Mr Asheri was in the custody of the MoI at the time of his
death.
Case No. 25 - Abdulkarim Ali Ahmed Fakhrawi
1001. At 13:10 on 11 April 2011, Abdulkarim Ali Ahmed Fakhrawi was
pronounced dead. The death certificate states that the cause of death was
injuries sustained while in the custody of the NSA.
1002. The Commission received information that the deceased was a
businessman and founder of Bahrain’s first educational bookstore. The
bookstore had expanded into a publishing house and acted as the main
supplier of books to the University of Bahrain. The deceased was also one of
the main founders of Al Wasat newspaper and he owned the construction
company that built the Iraqi Embassy in Bahrain. On the evening of 2 April
2011, the deceased was visiting a relative in Karbabad. At approximately
23:30, police surrounded his relative’s home. The deceased presented himself
at the police station the following morning in order to resolve the matter.
Later that day, relatives went to Sanabis police station and inquired about the
deceased. The officers informed them that there was nobody with such a
name in detention. On 4 April, relatives went to the Public Prosecution and
asked about the deceased. An officer informed them that he could not provide
any information regarding the deceased’s arrest. On 12 April at 14:30, the
deceased’s secretary received a call from an unknown person who instructed
the family to go to the Emergency Section of SMC. A relative met with a
policewoman who informed the relative that the deceased had arrived at the
police station in poor health. The relative was told that the deceased had died
as a result of kidney failure. The following day, two other relatives went to
collect the deceased’s body, which showed clear marks of torture. The family
was threatened that if they took photographs of the body they would “end up
like him”.
1003. Commission investigators also received a number of verbal and
written statements from persons alleging that they had witnessed the deceased
being tortured in detention. In these statements, the witnesses claimed that
they had heard him screaming, “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) after every blow
he received, and that all of a sudden he stopped. The witnesses stated that
after the deceased stopped screaming, they heard one person say to another,
“You killed him.”
1004. The NSA conducted an investigation into this death. The
investigation found that the deceased attacked two police officers at the NSA.
The first statement to this effect was provided by an NSA officer who stated
that at 15:00 on 7 April 2011, he heard loud fighting near the toilets of one of
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