Manama: Bahrain's public prosecutor on Sunday requested the death penalty for 19 men accused of murdering a policeman but acquitted by the High criminal Court in October.
The men had been tried for their alleged role in the death of Majid Asghar Ali Baksh, a 24-year-old Pakistani policeman, in an ambush near Karazakan, a village around 20km south west of Manama, the capital.
Prosecutors argued that the police car had been hit with Molotov cocktails and stones in April 2008. However, the suspects denied the charges and their lawyers contested the evidence. Following a long trial, the court ruled that there was no evidence against them and acquitted them on October 13.
However, the prosecutor in November appealed against the acquittals and rejected the court's explanations, claiming the court had not understood the circumstances of the case and that its decision was built on "assumed premises that clashed with the reality on the ground and the relevant reports. The prosecutor said the court's acquittal was based on "weak evidence" and issued a statement calling for "justice to prevail".
