Manama: In Sitra, a town south of Manama, the Bahraini capital, it is again two tales of one death.
A Sitra resident, Sayyed Jawad Ahmad, 35, died on Wednesday. His relatives said that the death occurred after he inhaled tear gas fired by security forces during clashes with protesters the night before.
However, the health ministry on Thursday said that Syed Jawad was a sickle cell patient who was admitted to the Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain's largest hospital, and who died on Wednesday at 6.45 pm from "acute respiratory syndrome distress."
Two weeks ago, a 14-year-old boy died also in Sitra as the town celebrated the first day of Eid Al Fitr, the feast that marks the end of Ramadan.
Human rights groups and an opposition formation said that he died after a tear gas cylinder was shot into his face during clashes with the anti-riot police.
However, the interior ministry denied the claims and said that none of its personnel was in Sitra at the time of the death.
The ministry said that the three men who took the body of Ali Jawad Ahmad to the local health centre fled without providing any information about what happened. It offered a $25,000 reward to anyone who could provide information that would elucidate the mystery shrouding the death.
The public prosecution said that lab tests on the body and clothes proved there was no trace of tear gas.
