A BAHRAIN court is set to deliver a ruling next week in three separate cases in which policemen were abducted and tortured during the height of last year's unrest.

Defence lawyers yesterday submitted their final arguments on behalf of three Bahrainis appealing against 10-year jail sentences for allegedly kidnapping an officer, locking him in a bird cage and torturing him at a farm in Sanabis.

The Supreme Criminal Appeals Court earlier heard the policeman needed counselling after his ordeal as he suffered bouts of crying, sleep disorders, depression and anxiety.

The suspects include clergyman Mohammed Habib Al Saffaf, also known as Al Meqdad, who has been jailed for 96 years in connection with several cases connected to the unrest.

Mr Saffaf is understood to be the mastermind behind the attacks on Asians that took place last year and is a suspect in all three kidnap cases.

The same court received defence arguments from lawyers in the second case, which involves seven men jailed for a combined total of 105 years for abducting a policeman during the unrest.

Escaped

It is claimed the victim was held captive in an abandoned building and at the home of two of the defendants in Bilad Al Qadeem.

The officer eventually escaped through the window of a room where he was being held and down a drainpipe.

The third case, also being tried in the same court, includes nine Bahrainis fighting 20-year jail sentences after being convicted of abducting and torturing a policeman.

The Pakistani victim was on his way to work when his vehicle was ambushed by attackers armed with sickles, metal rods and wooden planks on March 14 last year in Saraya 2, Saar, according to prosecutors.

He was reportedly attacked, held at a house and then taken to the former GCC (Pearl) Roundabout where he was paraded on a stage for protesters before being attacked again.

The defendants in all three cases were convicted by the National Safety Court but their appeals were transferred to a civilian court as part of implementing recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report. All three cases were adjourned until next Tuesday to issue a verdict. noorz@gdn.com.bh