Bahrain’s High Criminal Court issued sentences on Wednesday against 60 suspects held on terrorism charges, reported the Bahrain News Agency (BNA).
Acting Head of Terror Crime Prosecution, Chief Prosecutor Hamad Shaheen, said two defendants were sentenced to death and 19 to life in prison. The court also sentenced 17 defendants to 15 years in jail, nine to 10 years and 11 to five years. It also stripped 47 defendants of their citizenship.
Two detainees were acquitted.
The 60 suspects were put on trial on charges of forming a terrorist group. They were trained on the use of weapons and explosives for terrorist purposes and deliberate attempts to murder policemen.
The suspects also imported, possessed and used explosives, firearms and ammunition in armed robbery for terrorist purposes. They assaulted law enforcement personnel who protected the community from terrorist acts. They forcefully resisted arrest, fled from detention, assisted convicts to escape and sheltered convicted inmates, reported BNA.
According to Criminal Investigation Department (CID) records, the case annals date back to January 1, 2017 when ten convicts escaped from the Jaw Reformatory and Rehabilitation Center, killing one policeman from the prison warden force in the process.
The investigations revealed the formation of a terrorist organization, established and joined by a number of suspects, including 12 in Iran and Iraq, one in Germany and 40, including the 10 fugitives, in Bahrain.
The group leaders and members plotted numerous terrorist crimes aimed to destabilize public order, undermine the Kingdom’s safety and security, damage national unity and hamper authorities from carrying out their duties.
The investigations unraveled the suspects’ formation of their terrorist organization, and how the suspects communicated with members of the organization in the Kingdom who are inmates inside or outside prison to recruit other elements. They supplied them with various explosives, firearms and ammunition that had been smuggled into Bahrain.
They also supplied them with the necessary funds for their subsistence and terror activities. They, jointly with their leader, who was a fugitive in Germany, managed the travel procedures for members of the organization to travel to Iran and Iraq to train on the use of explosives, firearms in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard camps to prepare them to carry out terrorist crimes in Bahrain, said BNA.
The security personnel arrested a number of the suspects in accordance with the Law for the Protection of the Community against Terrorist Acts, searched their homes and seized a large cache of explosives, detonators, hand grenades, explosive molds, automatic Kalashnikov machineguns, pistols, ammunition, vehicles and boats used in carrying out terrorist attacks and smuggling operations.
Thirty-six suspects were arrested and referred to the Public Prosecution for questioning. Some of the suspects confessed to the charges.
