Cassation Court upholds terror crime case sentences

Manama, Feb. 26 (BNA): The Court of Cassation today upheld the appealed sentences in the case of deliberate murder and foreign intelligence connections, the Chief of Terror Crime Prosecution, Advocate General Ahmed Al Hammadi, said. On June 30, 2016, the suspects committed their crime of detonating the bomb that killed a woman who was driving on Shaikh Jabir Al Ahmad Highway. The defendants were charged with the deliberate murdering of a woman as a result of detonation of an explosive device. They were also charged with the illegal handling, possession of explosives and weapons, causing the bomb explosion that claimed a human life, endangering public and private transportation, receiving training on the use of weapons and explosives, committing a terrorist crime with other accomplices, harbouring a wanted terrorist and inflicting material damage in implementation of terrorist purposes. On June 19, 2016, the High Criminal Court issued the death sentence against the first defendant, life in jail against the second defendant and three years in prison against seven of the defendants, revoking the nationality of the first and second defendants and obliging them to pay financial compensation for the damage. The court also decided to fine the third defendant and ordered the confiscation of all seized materials. On November 22, 2017, the Court of Appeal issued its sentence by accepting the appeal of eight defendants in form, but rejected it in substance and upheld the sentences. The prosecution investigations unraveled that a suspect who was residing in Iran and worked for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps tasked the defendants to implement the terrorist crime by detonating the bomb in order to target police patrols and kill policemen. He provided the first and second defendants with the explosive device for this purpose. The police movement was monitored and the explosive device was placed in the crime scene to carry out the plot. The defendants detonated the bomb which killed the victim and wounded her accompanying children. The first defendant escaped from the crime scene following the terrorist crime and he was sheltered in a hideout by some of the defendants. The defendants were apprehended in accordance with legally-prescribed procedures and referred to the prosecution. Ten defendants including eight in custody were referred to the High Criminal Court. An arrest warrant was issued against the fugitive suspect. The case was deliberated by the court which listened to defence arguments and pleas and statements of the prosecution that insisted on the maximum penalty against the defendants.