The twin sons of Iraq’s ambassador to Portugal, involved in an incident last Wednesday which left a 15-year-old Portuguese boy in intensive care, have been interviewed for a SIC TV programme and say they are not going anywhere until an investigation is completed and the legal situation is resolved.
The twins, Haider and Ridha, are alleged to have used an embassy car to run over Rúben Cavaco who then was set upon in the street in Ponte de Sor in the Alentejo after a disagreement in a bar.
Saying that ‘things like this happen every day in Portugal’ and that this case has received so much publicity because of who they are, the twins refer to a dangerous and feral world where teenagers, alcohol and a pack mentality means that things soon get out of control.
The twins claim they were attacked by the 15-year-old Cavaco and five other young men near a bar in the town but had to return to retrieve their house keys which they had dropped and the fighting again flared up.
The twins say that they are not above the law and admit to having beaten Rúben but say they did not run him over in an embassy Mercedes.
Baghdad has asked its ambassador to Portugal, Saad Mohammed Ridha, to pop back to Iraq to attend a ‘meeting without coffee’ so he can explain what has gone on, or in diplomatic speak, ‘to inquire about the incident attributed to his two children.’
The Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva may ask Iraq to waive the diplomatic immunity of the twin sons of the ambassador which will be easier if Baghdad agrees there is a case to answer.
However, the Iraqi embassy in Lisbon broke its silence and said the children of the ambassador acted ‘in self-defence’ after they had been "insulted and beaten because they are Arabs," in a "racist attack."
Ambassador Saad Mohammed Ridha has made a formal complaint to the Portuguese authorities claiming his boys were being attacked and that they acted in self-defence.
Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs already is supporting the ambassador’s assertion and stated on its website that "The sons of the Iraqi ambassador to Portugal were severely beaten by six people who attacked them and insulted them for being Arabs and Muslims."
The embassy website noted that one of the twins, on a pilot training course in Ponte de Sor, already had been the target of racist abuse, but "decided to complete his studies, being a student with good academic performance."
The embassy also denied the twins were in an embassy car as they had their own and that they both have driving licences.
The Attorney General's Office is investigating the case which is made complicated by the twins’ diplomatic immunity status which means that as things stand, they can not be prosecuted for any offence unless Iraq agrees to prosecute them in iraq, Iraq agrees to lift the twins' immunity or Portugal declares the Ambassador is persona non grata.
In the SIC interview to be aired this evening the twins say that they are not going anywhere until the situation is resolved and that they are praying for the recovery of Rúben’ who is out of Intensive Care but remains at the Hospital of Santa Maria in Lisbon.
