A Bahraini dissident who claimed he was beaten and threatened with being thrown from the roof of the country’s embassy in London by staff in July has lodged a complaint with police, saying he was a victim of attempted murder.
Moosa Mohammed visited Charing Cross police station with his lawyers on Tuesday morning to file a statement, in which he accused embassy staff of trying to push him off the roof while one threatened him with “execution”.
According to Mohammed’s statement, one of the embassy staffers had said “we have two people being executed in Bahrain and you will be the third”. The dissident, who was protesting against the other executions, feared for his life.
Video of the incident taken from ground level outside the embassy in Belgravia appears to show Mohammed while he was perched on the roof ledge at about 10.30pm.
The incident ended a few minutes later when police and the fire brigade took the highly unusual step of forcing entry to the embassy. Mohammed was then taken away by police.
The Bahraini embassy said the allegation that “embassy staff were trying to kill Mr Mohammed is completely unfounded and ridiculous”.
The embassy added that staff had responded with “professionalism and courage” and said an “objective view of this incident would determine that peaceful and lawful protest does not take place on the roof of a diplomatic premises at 10.30pm”.
Mohammed is being represented by the human rights law firm Bindmans. The dissident, who obtained asylum and has lived in the UK since 2006, said: “If the police had not broken into the embassy and found me, I believe I would have been killed.”
His case is being supported by the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD). Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, its director of advocacy, said he believed Mohammed was threatened simply for “protesting to try to save the lives of two men”.
