By GEOFFREY BEW
Published: 13th May 2007
TWO prisoners stranded for almost two years in Bahrain’s deportation centre slashed their wrists in apparent suicide attempts yesterday.
The men, an Indian and a Sri Lankan, were taken to the Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) after slashing their wrists at around 11.30am.
Indian Ambassador Balkrishna Shetty confirmed the incident and said the men had been treated for their injuries and were “out of danger”.
“Two men tried to slash their wrists in the morning but were seen by other prisoners and were taken to hospital,” he told the GDN.
By GEOFFREY BEW
Published: 13th May 2007
TWO prisoners stranded for almost two years in Bahrain’s deportation centre slashed their wrists in apparent suicide attempts yesterday.
The men, an Indian and a Sri Lankan, were taken to the Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) after slashing their wrists at around 11.30am.
Indian Ambassador Balkrishna Shetty confirmed the incident and said the men had been treated for their injuries and were “out of danger”.
“Two men tried to slash their wrists in the morning but were seen by other prisoners and were taken to hospital,” he told the GDN.
“We are going to take it up with the government because this shows that we need to sort out this matter.
“The General Directorate of Nationality Passports and Residency (GDNPR) and the embassy have been working on this for several months, but it is a question of how to do it properly, within the confines of the law.”
Around 10 hours before the apparent attempted suicides, one prisoner told the GDN a group of six men were planning to stage another hunger strike.
The same group went on a three-day hunger strike to demand their immediate deportation six months ago.
The GDN reported last month that six prisoners had offered to give up a kidney or an eye each for transplants, if it helped to secure their release.
They have been held in the Asry Detention Centre for almost two years.
All are waiting to be sent home, but are unable to leave because they have outstanding debts and civil cases lodged against them.
One is understood to be BD13,000 in debt.
Officials from the Indian Embassy and Migrant Workers’ Protection Society (MWPS) have been trying to get them released and are continuing to work behind the scenes.
MWPS action committee head Marietta Dias was unaware of the apparent suicide attempts, but described it as a “foolish” act and said it would do nothing to help their cause.
She insisted everything possible was being done to solve the men’s predicament.
Ms Dias revealed that the MWPS and the Indian Embassy were in talks with a Bahraini lawyer interested in helping with the prisoners’ cases and were also trying to secure an appointment with the judge who handled the cases.
This is in addition to contacting those who filed cases against the expatriates, to see if anything can be done to secure their release.
“It is an unusual case and I understand that they are getting very frustrated but a lot of work is happening on the sidelines,” said Ms Dias.
“We are working in many different ways but this takes time.
“The embassy is also on top of the situation, but it is not the easiest to solve.”
Ms Dias previously said many of the men entered into business transactions which led them into debt.
Some claim to have been conned, but this was impossible to prove, she said.
© Gulf Daily News