Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): What is the truth behind the events that took place on Monday (September 26, 2016) during the trial of the Bahraini Shia spiritual leader Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim and two other defendants- the case which is based on accusations of "money laundering" linked to the Shiite religious obligation of Khums (alms).

The attorney Abdulrahman Rashid Yousuf Al-Khashram, assigned by the Bahraini regime as the defense attorney of Sheikh Hussain Al-Mahrous, one of the defendants in Sheikh Qassim's case, entered the courtroom and handed to the judge a written plea of a few pages only without entering an oral pleading. The court hearing was then adjourned in less than 5 minutes. This is exactly what happened according to eyewitnesses. There was not another lawyer attending the hearing, as circulated on social media websites. According to the law, an attorney cannot represent a defendant without being assigned by the defendant himself, let alone without the defendant's attendance in court.

Who is this lawyer Abdulrahman Al-Khashram and what is known of his history?

In the renowned August cell case in 2010, when the defense team of the defendants withdrew after the court refused to investigate the acts of torture practiced against the defendants and take into account the defense panel's requests, the court assigned a number of attorneys to represent the defense. However, these attorneys declined, stating that they cannot represent defendants that did not assign them themselves and do not want to be represented by them. This incurred the wrath of the authorities who referred them to a disciplinary trial. The court then assigned another team that also declined the task and faced the same fate.

The court then assigned a fourth panel, made up of a number of lawyers of Egyptian and Jordanian origins, including attorney Al-Khashram. This group of attorneys accepted to take part in the defense, despite not being assigned by the defendants themselves. Nonetheless, what shocked everyone, including the lawyers themselves, is what Al-Khashram did in the first court hearing that he attended with the new "defense" team. Al-Khashram submitted to the judge a written plea of only one page and a half, although the team had not received the case file yet. Al-Khashram's move provoked ridicule, even from his fellow attorneys on the defense panel, who openly expressed their denunciation of such an act. It is worth noting that this case file comprised five thick folders with 2000 pages each.

Following the February 2011 events, Al-Khashram represented his nephew officer Abdullah Al-Khashram who was accused of killing martyr Hani Abdulaziz. At first, the authorities wanted to cover up the crime, denying any responsibility for Abdulaziz's murder. However, when investigator Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni, head of the fact-finding commission, listened to witnesses, he demanded launching an investigation into the incident and referring the case to court. Thus, the authorities were forced to refer the accused officer, who is the highest ranking officer to be accused of murder, to trial. During the trial, he confessed to firing shotgun pellets at Abdulaziz from a less-than-one-meter range. The judge sentenced him to 7 years in prison, yet the sentence was later commuted to 3 months imprisonment by an appeals court. Although, the Interior Ministry announced that he was detained during the period of his trial, he attended the court hearings alone in civilian clothing with a cellphone, which indicates that he was in fact not detained.

In the recent case raised against Sheikh Isa Qassim and the other defendants, Al-Khashram is representing the defense of Sheikh Hussain Al-Marous- a matter that raises questions, as to why an attorney would go to court and enter a plea without being assigned by the defendant himself!

Al-Khashram is known to have the authorities' support which has helped him gain great wealth from his occupation as a lawyer, despite being famous for his weak defenses and many language errors.

This is Abdulrahman Al-Khashram, who seems to be the Bahraini government's yes man for its dirty work. Every time the authorities get involved in a "dirty" political case, where its attorneys withdraw in protest, they assign Al-Khashram. Whenever a lawyer refuses to take a case or  defendant protests and refuses to assign an attorney, they get Al-Khashram to do their dirty work by entering a weak less-than-two-page written "defense" plea full of errors in return for a hefty check from the state's treasury.

Arabic Version