Page 282 - Records of Bahrain (7) (i)_Neat

268 Records of Bahrain

iUOLK JL^mL-GOfiMSias

I huve boon asked to consider the lieport of the board of
Enquiry into tho incidonbo involving disturbance of the peace
in Bahrain between 2nd and 16th March, 19!)6, and to ndvioo what
notion should bo taken on the Board's findin;,o.
A* Disturbances near the Muniolpal Building on March 11th
Tho Board found that:

(l) Tlie circumstances wore not ouch ao to juotify the
opening of fire by the police v/hothor they received orders or
not;
(2) The extent of the firing was grossly excessive;
(3) Moot of the filling by tho police was from the hip,
unaimed and directed into the air.
(4) Captain Hills, Inspector Wilson and Inspector
Khalifa Mirjrin wore inside tho Municipal Building at the time
the firing commenced and that neither Inspector Salman nor
Inspector Khalifa gave an order to fire;
The Board were unable to determine when the police loaded
their rifles or whether they were ordered to do so and, if so,
by whom. Nor could they determine whether any person other than
an officer ordered fire to be opened.
And from all this it is clear that in order to file a
prosecution against any of these policemen it would be necessary
to prove that;
(1) the policemen fired thoir rifles without orders
with inbent to do grievous bodily harm or to kill
and that the death or wounding of any particular
individual resulted from this action, or:

(2) that they attempted to commit such an act.
The findings of the Board show clearly that moot of the policemen
did not have an intent bo do grievous bodily harm or to kill.
They fired into the air and did not aim their rifles at any
pci'oon. There is no finding that any particular policeman aimed
his rifle at any person in the crowd Tho Board make no finding
as to the number of deaths where the deaths occurred or as to
whether any particular death was caused by the firing, They
merely find that a number of deaths and injuries were caused by
this firing. In a criminal prosecution it would bo necessary to
prove that a particular individual hud been killed or injured and
that hi3 death or injury was in fact enuood by a bullet fired from
one of the police rifles, In view of the evidence of explosions
before tho police fired and tho evidonco of the wounding of a man
by a small caliber pistol bullet, it would be ncceosary to have
strict proof so ao to exclude the possibility that the death had
been caused by a bullet fired by some person other than a
policeman.
In view of the clear absence of intent in most casos and of
the absence of any evidence to show that any particular policeman
aimed his rifle at the crowd I do not think that a criminal
prosecution could possibly succeed. Even if intent could bo
proved/