Over two years since they beat a 15-year-old schoolboy to a pulp and left him unconscious in a darkened side-street, the twins of a former Iraqi ambassador to Portugal have been formally accused of attempted murder.
A letter rogatory to this effect has been sent to Iraqi authorities in what could be an incredibly subtle way of Portugal finally coming out on top.
In the past, requests to lift the youths’ diplomatic immunity have all been thwarted (click here).
Indeed, the awful saga ended with the schoolboy and his family receiving a hefty payout on the basis that they wouldn’t pursue a civil complaint while the ambassador was ‘recalled to Baghdad’ where judicial authorities there said they would deal with the matter their way.
It was “not what Portuguese authorities wanted” foreign affairs minister August Santos Silva admitted at the time.
The fact that judicial authorities have now issued this letter rogatory may possibly have reduced the size of the world for twins Haider and Ridha Ali.
Iraqi nationals are already facing limits on travel to the United States. The existence of a letter like this one could curtail the young men’s countries of unconditioned welcome even further.
It was emitted by the Attorney General’s office and passed to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
A source for the Attorney General’s office explains that the letter is “a legal instrument of cooperation between two countries, through which one country requires the enforcement of a judicial act to the court of another country, so that it cooperates in the practice of a particular procedural act”.
For now, the way forwards is for an interview of the youths – both of whom have already admitted their beating of Ruben Cavaco who spent days in a coma and required extensive facial reconstruction surgery.
As SIC television news has said it was “only due to prompt medical and surgical supervision” that Ruben survived.
But whether the letter rogatory will get the desired results is the big question. Haider and Ridha’s whereabouts too are unclear. Their father now is Iraq’s ambassador in Syria.
Earlier this year, tabloid Correio da Manhã suggested the Ali brothers will duck any formal request for questioning, and remain free from Portuguese justice (click here) if slightly more geographically conditioned than before.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
