Bahrain’s court upheld life sentence against Sec-Gen of dissolved al-Wefaq Ali Salman on charges of spying for Qatar, announced state-owned Bahrain News Agency (BNA).
The supreme court confirmed the verdict against Salman and two of his aides for "spying for a foreign state in order to... overthrow the government," according to a statement released by public prosecutor Osama al-Oufi.
He added that Salman and two senior al-Wefaq leaders Hassan Sultan and Ali al-Aswad were sentenced to life imprisonment for having been charged with intelligence contacts with a foreign state to carry out acts against the Kingdom of Bahrain in order to undermine its political and economic status and its national interests and topple the regime.
The public prosecutor indicated that the defendants were also charged with revealing defense secrets to a foreign country, accepting money from a foreign state for divulging military secrets and information pertaining to the internal situation in the Kingdom, disseminating false information and inciting allegations abroad in order to weaken financial trust in the Kingdom and undermine its prestige.
On November 4, the Court of Appeal trialed the three defendants on charges of intelligence links with Qatar.
The trial of the espionage cell began in November, on August 16, 2017, after Bahraini security services revealed a phone call between Qatar’s former Prime Minister, Sheikh Haman bin Jassem Al Thani, and Ali Salman during the incidents in Bahrain that took place in the period from February 14 until March 16, 2011.
In related news, Arab Parliament Speaker Mishaal bin Fahm al-Salami praised Bahrain’s human rights strides led by King Hamad Al Khalifa and the efforts in boosting human rights protection nationally, in the Arab region and globally as well.
Salmi’s statement came during a letter addressed to the Arab Rights Committee during its discussion of Bahrain’s report on human rights.
The Parliament renewed its support to Bahrain and its actions aimed at “standing against anything that might harm its security and stability, interfere in its internal affairs or comment on the judicial decisions issued by its national courts.”
The Arab Speaker hailed Bahrain’s efforts as the world’s leading role model for interfaith tolerance and coexistence among the various denominations, winning the international community’s confidence and supporting Bahrain's election as a member of the UN-affiliated Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
