Bahrain escape plan after Jackson’s abuse trial

MICHAEL Jackson’s brother Jermaine has revealed a plan to secretly fly his sibling to Bahrain if he was found guilty of child molestation charges.

The 56-year-old entertainer said a private jet financed by a friend was on standby to whisk the pop star to the Persian Gulf state, which does not have an extradition treaty with the US, had Michael been convicted at the end of his 2005 court case.

In a magazine interview, Jermaine said: “If they were going to sit and crucify my brother for something that he didn’t do, America deserves us not to come back here. This is supposed to be the land of the brave, home of the free, democracy, freedom of speech. The way they were treating him, none of that existed. Why should he go to jail for something he didn’t do?”

Jermaine said his younger brother was not aware of the escape plot but would have agreed to flee America “in a heartbeat” because he would not have survived in jail.

The star, who died in June 2009, was accused of molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo, conspiring to kidnap him and his family and giving him alcohol, but was found not guilty of all charges. Yesterday, a court in Los Angeles completed the first phase of selecting a jury for the trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor Conrad Murray, who pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter in connection with treatment he allegedly gave the pop star before his death.