Reuters AlertNet Lite - Owner of sunken Bahrain boat gets 10 years jail

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Owner of sunken Bahrain boat gets 10 years jail

24 May 2007 09:28:58 GMT
Source: Reuters

MANAMA, May 24 (Reuters) - The owner of a boat which sank off the coast of Bahrain in March last year has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for the manslaughter of 57 people, the man's lawyer told Reuters on Thursday.

Abdul Rahman Al Ghoneim said his client Abdulla Al Kobaisi was on 10,000 Bahraini dinar ($26,525) bail pending an appeal ruling due in about 45 days, he said, adding that the ship's captain, Rajendrakumar Ramjibhai, was sentenced to three years.

Ramjibhai was imprisoned shortly after the disaster, and has served almost half his sentence.

"The boat was under the administration of another company that was renting it. At the time, it was not under the supervision of Abdulla Al Kobaisi. That's our defence," Ghoneim said.

Kobaisi was not immediately available for comment.

More than 130 people, a mixture of Asians, Arabs and Europeans, were on the al Dana boat for a dinner party, a number greater than the ship's maximum capacity, investigations showed.

The wife of a passenger who died in the incident said she was dissatisfied Kobaisi had been granted bail and could appeal, and said she believed Ramjibhai had been made a scapegoat.

"I think it is disgusting...He (Kobaisi) should have to serve the 10 years or they should have given him a fine he would have found impossible to pay. He is going to walk free. It it is pathetic," Alison Moody was quoted in Bahrain's Gulf Daily News newspaper as saying.

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Last updated:Thu May 24 09:32:02 2007