Attempt rejected to have Bahrain AG appear before Dublin court

An application to have the Attorney General of Bahrain summoned to appear before the District Court in Dublin has been rejected.

Judge Gráinne O’Neill said she was not satisfied that the material presented established a prima facie case. She said she did not believe a sufficient nexus had been shown between the behaviour alleged and the proposed accused.

The application for a summons to be issued to Ali Bin Fadhul Al Buainain was made by Jaafar Al-Hasabi, of London, a political activist who said he was tortured while in detention in Bahrain.

He wanted Mr Al Buainain to be brought before the court in relation to a complaint that he had tortured, or aided the torture, of Mr Al-Hasabi, at The Fort, Bahrain, between August 2010 and February 2011.

Mr Al Buainain is believed to be in Dublin for a prosecutors’ conference. The meeting of the International Association of Prosecutors is being hosted by the Director of Public Prosecutions and is being attended by approximately 530 people from about 90 countries.

Electric shocks

Mr Al Hasabi told the court Mr Al Buainain extended his detention when, he claimed, Mr Al Buainain knew he would be tortured. He said Mr Al Buainain should be prosecuted under provisions of the Criminal Justice (United Nations Convention Against Torture) Act 2000.

Responding to his counsel, Giollaíoisa Ó’Lideadha SC, with Jim McCullough, instructed by solicitor Michael Finucane, he said the torture he suffered included electric shocks, physical beatings, and sleep deprivation.

Mr Ó’Lideadha handed into Judge O’Neill an affidavit from a lawyer based in New York, Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, in which he said he has acted as a consultant to Human Rights Watch and been involved in the production of three reports by that organisation concerning torture in Bahrain. He had met Mr Al Buainain to discuss the findings of the reports, said Mr Colangelo-Bryan.

Mr Al-Hasabi’s court application received support from the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights in Berlin, the Global Legal Action Network in Dublin and Redress in London.

After the court hearing, Mr Al-Hasabi said he was disappointed, but would be making a separate complaint an Garda Siochána.