Around 10:00 pm, Friday 17th August, 2012, the Public Prosecution received a call about Haddad, following an attempted assault on a police patrol in Muharraq. The Head of the Special Investigations Unit and a team of investigators, accompanied by members of the Forensic Lab, conducted a thorough inspection of the crime scene, a commercial road in a residential area. Evidence of a firebomb attack was found on the police patrol car, and on private and public property in the immediate vicinity, as well as a box containing a large number of petrol bombs and two shields designed to deflect projectiles.
The medical examiner confirmed that shotgun pellets penetrated the deceased’s right torso causing lacerations in the right lung and liver, which was accompanied by limited internal hemorrhage in the chest and abdomen. The report also confirmed that the body did not show any other injury, indicating that he did not suffer any physical assault before or after his fatal injury.
The forensic lab report showed that swab samples taken from the deceased’s hands showed that they were soaked in gasoline (petrol), corroborating the testimony of the six witnesses questioned by the SIU that same night. They all testified that a group of 25 to 30 persons attacked the police patrol with a large number of petrol bombs causing damage to the patrol car as well as to some shops, and passing and parked vehicles, in an assault that continued for several minutes. No one was able to determine the identities of the perpetrators, nor did they see the deceased at the time he sustained his injury due the chaos.
Members of the patrol confirmed that one policeman was standing outside the vehicle to monitor security in the area when they were attacked and the rest exited the vehicle, firing two warning shots to no avail. The deceased, who was masked, continued to throw petrol bombs, aiming at one of the patrol officers standing in close proximity to him. The police officer then fired his shotgun once in the direction of the deceased, causing the injuries previously noted.
The policeman has been accused of manslaughter, but justified firing the shot as self-defense. He said that Al Haddad continued to assault the patrol after the two warning shots were fired, and that he was throwing a petrol bomb at him from a very close range intending to kill or injure him. His statement was supported by the other members of the assaulted patrol, who testified that the distance between the deceased and the accused was less than 15 meters.
The Public Prosecutor noted that Al-Haddad’s father never filed a complaint in the matter. However, the Special Investigations Unit requested a Judicial Police inquiry into the incident to determine all circumstances and facts. The investigation is still ongoing.