Bahrain Mirror: Deputy Attorney General and SIU member Mohammed Yousif Al-Zubari said that the unit initiated intensive investigations into the case into that case of the Moroccan inmate who passed away last month while in prison and reached that he died to a severe disease.

Al-Zubari clarified in a press statement that the inmate Najeeb Mahfouz Ibn Al-Sharqi, a Moroccan national, who was serving a 15-year imprisonment sentence issued against him on November 11, 2013, after being convicted in a number of crimes died at 6:30 AM, on February 20, 2019, at Salmaniya Medical Complex, and that the woman seen in the video and who claimed that he was tortured and mistreated is his mother, in addition to the fact that the footage was filmed in Morocco.

He said: "In its efforts to reveal the truth behind the torture claims and determine the responsible individuals, the SIU took the necessary procedures and assigned an official coroner to examine the body of the deceased." "Further investigations proved that the deceased was taken to Salmaniya Medical Complex on February 16, 2019, after complaining from abdominal pain, hematuria, diarrhea, high temperature and general fatigue. He remained in the hospital, where he was provided with the necessary intensive medical procedures, but he died on the aforementioned date," Al-Zubari said.

The official also said that the reports issued by the Health and Social Affairs Directorate in Interior Ministry showed that the inmate, since his detention, received comprehensive examination and treatment procedures, which didn't show any traces of violence or resistance.

Al-Zubari also confirmed that the deceased's body was autopsied as per a request from the Moroccan Embassy in Bahrain, adding that the autopsy report proved that he died because of the illness and the accompanying malfunction in the performance of several crucial organs including the heart.

The Deputy Attorney General added that the deceased's cellmates were interrogated and denied that he was tortured or mistreated in any way. It was also revealed in the ministry's statement that the deceased's mother filed a complaint to the centre about maltreatment her son received from some inmates and that he was shifted to another building. No previous allegations, either by the inmate or his relatives, of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment have been substantiated in the file or the official records of the unit.

Arabic Version