11 jail wardens face assault charges

Dubai: A senior Dubai police officer and 11 jail wardens have been referred to court for reportedly using extensive force with inmates, one of whom sustained a permanent disability while others incurred serious injuries, Gulf News has learnt.

The Public Prosecution has brought charges against the 12 suspects [who were in charge of one of Dubai police's detention centres] including assault which led to injury or permanent disability, abusing authority to beat prisoners, instigating jail wardens to beat prisoners and aiding and abetting a crime, sources close to the investigation told Gulf News.

A public prosecution source said the case has been referred to the Dubai Court of First Instance but the hearing date has not been scheduled.

Medical reports confirmed that a 41-year-old Armenian inmate sustained a 10 per cent permanent disability to his spinal cord. Most of the suspects denied their charges since the public prosecution started questioning them.

The Armenian inmate claimed that one day they woke up to loud voices and masked men taking inmates out of their cells.

"We were abusively beaten while running through the alleyway to the outer prison yard.

"Men in black masks [believed to be the anti-riot police] and some of the wardens assaulted us gruesomely... Doctors fixed a metal chip in my spinal cord after a major back operation at Rashid Hospital," he alleged.

A Dubai police major said the supreme command assigned him to investigate the allegations that an inmate had been beaten and admitted to hospital. The major instantly sent a lieutenant to question the Armenian in his hospital bed and discovered that the wardens' assault caused him the injury.

Meanwhile, another lieutenant who questioned a number of inmates [where the alleged incident occurred] discovered that the 'assault and beating of prisoners did happen' however, he could not identify who injured the Armenian.

The major alleged that digital recordings showed the wardens and anti-riot police let inmates leave their cells and beat them [using their arms and legs] randomly while running down the alleyway to the outer yard.

"We established that the senior officer planned and supervised the incident through our findings and what we saw on the digital recordings... a number of officers also aided him," testified the major.

Some 22 prosecution witnesses, including police staff and inmates, testified before the Public Prosecution.