Woman’s sentence revoked in alleged bribery case

The High Criminal Court of Appeal yesterday acquitted an Asian woman, who was earlier convicted of attempting to bribe a policeman, and revoked the previously announced verdict of three month imprisonment for lack of evidence. According to the defence attorney, Khalid Ali, the woman was “lost in translation”, when the policeman stopped her while she was driving at a late hour.

The woman was allegedly not carrying any identification documents and tried to pay the cop a BD20 bribe to let her go, as claimed by Public Prosecution. However, Mr Ali argued that the woman, who apparently cannot speak in Arabic, thought that the policeman was fining her and tried to pay the BD20 fine on the spot to resolve the matter. The case was deliberated by the court, which ordered to imprison the woman for three months.

“The defendant was trying to pay the BD20 as a fine and not to bribe the policeman. In the country where she comes from, fines are paid instantly and she thought the same system was being applied here in Bahrain. “Because of the language barrier between her and the policeman, it is likely for a misunderstanding to occur.

Hence, the policeman should have precisely remembered the words the defendant said. Additionally, the policeman didn’t receive the amount from her, so no evidence was documented in the case,” Mr Ali said while defending his client. The lawyer argued that his client is innocent, adding that she didn’t attend the previous trial and was sentenced in absentia without hearing her defence.

He also said the complainant, the policeman, didn’t mention the reason why she was stopped or what he had witnessed as a law enforcement employee.