A LAWYER has claimed that her client was falsely accused of hitting a police officer as a way to cover up alleged police mistreatment.
Defence attorney Ruqaya Al Qulaihi claimed that the 34-year-old Bahraini defendant who is on trial for drug trafficking, resisting arrest and assaulting a policeman, was innocent of some of the charges he faces and should be shown leniency on others.
“My client was beaten by the officer and sent to hospital, so the officer pretended to have been assaulted by my client to justify his actions,” she alleged.
She also asked High Criminal Court judges to pardon her client of charges of selling hashish and using meth because he had led authorities to one of his co-defendants.
The three men have previously denied being part of a drug trafficking network, stockpiling more than 90kg of narcotics and smuggling them across Bahrain’s territorial waters.
The man’s co-defendants, both aged 51, were charged with trading in hashish and amphetamines. They were all arrested in a sting operation organised by an Interior Ministry informant.
The trio also denied selling the hashish and amphetamines using ‘dead drops’, hiding narcotics in roofs and dumping drug bags at pre-determined co-ordinates in the sea to be picked up by unknown collaborators.
Police officers told prosecutors in pre-trial hearings that the network was led by an Iranian nicknamed ‘Abu Aziz’ who received the cash generated from selling narcotics through groups of tourists.
The hearing was adjourned to Thursday for further defence statements and witness evidence.
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