GDN:Prosecutors in row over confessions

GDN:Prosecutors in row over confessions
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Prosecutors in row over confessions

Published: 24th February 2009

PROSECUTORS who published the alleged confessions of the terror suspects should be tried in a criminal court, defence lawyers argued yesterday.
They said the Public Prosecution committed a crime by taping and publishing the men's confessions during investigations.

The lawyers said those who issued the permission to publish the confessions in local newspapers and television should be tried as criminal suspects.
"If prosecutors publish results of an ongoing investigation without the permission of the suspects then they should be jailed for up to one year and fined no more than BD100," attorney Hassan Radhi told the judges.

"However if a government employee, not working for the prosecution, publishes the results then they should be jailed up to five years."

The defence team asked the High Criminal Court to appoint a Supreme Civil Appeals Court judge to re-question the terror plot suspects and review the entire investigation.
The defence team submitted an official document yesterday containing their requests and details of the criminal procedures the prosecutors took.

"We request a supreme civil appeals court judge to conduct the investigations because the prosecution has shown us that they can't be trusted especially, after they published the confessions in local newspapers and television," argued lawyers.

"By doing this the Public prosecution committed a crime as they are bound to abide by the law which clearly states the results of an ongoing investigation should not be disclosed.
"Everything that came after this act should be dismissed from the case files because the prosecution's entire case is based on these confessions."
They also submitted copies of the newspapers which published the pictures and confessions of the 14 men.
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