A BRITISH defendant in a high-profile drugs case told judges he had embraced Islam and yesterday implored on them to give him another chance of leading a ‘clean’ life living virtuously in Bahrain.
He is one of 17 defendants standing trial at the High Criminal Court and facing an array of charges including smuggling, selling and using cocaine and marijuana.
The defendants, aged between 27 and 58, include prominent expatriate business people and are jointly accused of being part of a drug trafficking gang. Fourteen of the accused are expatriates from the US, UK, Canada, Italy, India, the Netherlands, Portugal, Macedonia, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon and three are Bahrainis.
The 27-year-old Brit, who told the court that he had converted to Islam whilst in custody, faces charges of selling cannabis, hashish, marijuana and cocaine, and possessing cannabis, marijuana and morphine for personal use.
He was also charged with trading methamphetamine with an American co-defendant, one of the gang’s alleged ringleaders, who was also accused of cultivating marijuana at home.
The man admitted to using drugs but denied all other accusations, including one charge of possessing sexually explicit materials in a digital format.
“I converted to Islam, and that gave me an opportunity to change,” the youngest defendant told judges yesterday, declaring that he would never use drugs again because he now considered them ‘haram.’
“At the moment, I am practising Islam, learning Arabic and going to the mosque,” he said, then offered to recite two suras from the Quran to prove his dedication to the Muslim faith.
He told judges that if he was deported back to England after serving his sentence, he would ‘fall into the same pattern’ of drug consumption because there are ‘too many drugs’ there. “It is also harder to practise Islam in the UK,” he claimed.
The service sector employee added that he considers Bahrain his home, having lived in the Middle East for 23 years, and that he had a loving Bahraini wife. “My dream is to help people inside jail with safety and rescue training,” he added.
Lead judge Jassim Al Ajlan listened to the man’s defence and added his statement to the court record.
Before the 27-year-old made his pleas to the judges, his lawyer told the court that his client’s testimony to the Public Prosecution was ‘completely invalid’ because at the time there was no licensed translator available.
“My client’s confession should be thrown out entirely, since the prosecutor who carried out the questioning did the translations himself, which is against the law,” claimed lawyer Ali Abdulla Makki during the hearing. “That what is built on falsity is false.”
He also called on the judges to dismiss the charge of possessing sexually explicit material. “The explicit material my client possessed was personal and was not meant to be shared,” he added.
“The purpose of laws against possessing pornography is to curb the transmission and circulation of these materials, but the photos and videos on my client’s phone were private, featuring him and his partners. Hence, the law was not violated.”
Other defendants also made their cases to judges, including an American and Bahraini.
The 37-year-old Bahraini flight attendant claimed that he was not treated properly during his interrogation. The court heard he was allegedly not allowed to take a bathroom break and wet himself instead.
“My client’s confession was made under duress,” his lawyer told the court. “He was also high on cocaine during his confession and was not in his right mind to talk to investigators. Moreover, the investigation was not taken too seriously because the summoning documents list Riffa as his place of residence when he doesn’t live there.
“He has not lived in that address in over three years, he now lives in A’ali with his elderly parents, who he takes care of physically and financially.”
Another defendant, a 59-year-old female Dutch graphic designer, accused of selling cocaine and possessing weed and MDMA (ecstasy), claimed to be unfairly treated too, the court heard.
“My client’s statements to investigators are false, since they were given under coercion,” her lawyer claimed. “This woman is nearly 60, if she goes to jail, she will die there,” added the lawyer, stating that the Dutch expatriate was an upstanding member of the community and had lived in Bahrain for 20 years.
Verdicts will be passed on the accused by the High Criminal Court on May 16, judge Al Ajlan said.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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