A Briton convicted of manslaughter in Bahrain lost his last chance on Friday to appeal his reduced jail sentence, due to an apparent disagreement with his lawyer, reported the Gulf Daily News.
Richard Mechan, 35, of Gloucester, was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced in July last year to 15 years in jail for the stabbing and killing of Marshall Earl Emmons, 31, from Tucson, Arizona.
Last month, a Bahraini appeals court reduced his sentence to seven years. Yesterday was the final day for Mechan to appeal this sentence.
A British embassy official said that Mechan had wanted his lawyer, Taimoor Karimi, to re-appeal the sentence.
Ralph Jones, acting vice consul at the British embassy, said Karimi turned Mechan's proposal down, according to the paper.
Karimi told the Associated Press that he had refused to represent the Briton as “Mechan's appeal proposal was unfair and totally unacceptable to me.”
The court will deduct the 18 months Mechan has already served in jail from his seven-year sentence.
Emmons reportedly died on January 6 last year after being stabbed in the back and head during a fight at a housing compound in Bar-Bar, southwest of Manama.
Mechan was in Bahrain on a brief visit from Saudi Arabia, said the paper – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
