Three masseurs held for bashing up Gulf nationals

Manama: Three Asian masseurs were arrested yesterday, seven weeks after they brutally beat up two GCC nationals in the Capital.

Interior Ministry confirmed the arrest without revealing further information. It stated on its official Twitter page, “Three Asians were held in connection with a video posted online of a fight on Qudaibiya road in Manama.”

The Ministry also tweeted that the “arrestees were charged with physically attacking two Gulf nationals,” adding that “legal proceedings were taken and the case was referred to the Public Prosecution.”

The statements came in  response to a video intensively circulated on local and regional social media networks. The one-minute video titled “Saudi man killed in Bahrain” showed three men in a private establishment’s uniform chasing two men in local attire and beating them up.

The video showed one of the three attackers kicking a man directly in the face, leaving him lying down motionless in the middle of the road throughout the remaining time of the video.

The incident occurred  exactly at the Qudaibiya Avenue, linking Qudaibiya with Exhibitions Avenue in the eastern part of the capital.

Interestingly, a reliable source confirmed that the incident took place on January 17 and not on Friday as many online news sites mentioned.

“The video was shot on January 17, but went viral only recently. Not any case was filed regarding the incident then and none of the victims were taken to any of the hospitals in the Kingdom for treatment,” the source
added. DT News visited the site of incident. The three attackers were actually Thai masseurs working in a health spa in the area.

Another source, who preferred anonymity, told DT News that the three men were arrested at around 2pm yesterday and were taken to Hoora Police Station. He also confirmed that the incident happened around 9pm on January 17.

“It was an ordinary working day when the two men walked inside the spa, while shouting and drinking from liquor bottles they brought. They initially asked for the restroom, and when the staff approached them, they insulted them and created chaos in the shop,” the source claimed.

The three workers then pushed the men outside the shop and got engaged in a fistfight with them, as shown in the video, he added.

However, the source confirmed that no deaths were reported, and “the two Saudi men were left wounded on the road, before bystanders helped them.”