Death, jail terms for policeman murder suspects

Manama, June 6 (BNA): Advocate General and Head of the Terror Crimes Prosecution, Ahmed Al-Hammadi, said that the fourth High Criminal Court had issued verdicts against 13 suspects. The court handed down the death sentence to two suspects in a unanimous decision by the judges and sentenced three to life in jail and three to ten years in prison. Two suspects received seven-year and five-year jail terms, two others will be jailed for three years, and a suspect was acquitted. The court ordered the revocation of the citizenship of nine suspects, and ordered seven defendants to pay BD 25,416.5 for the damage they had inflicted on the police patrol, and BD 3,300 for the damages they caused to a private truck. Al-Hammadi said that the suspects had been found guilty of premeditated murder and attempted murder of policemen for terrorist purposes, forming and joining a terrorist group, harbouring suspects, failing to report a terrorist crime to the authorities, and possessing and acquiring a flammable device. Court documents revealed that the Public Prosecution had received, on April 16 last year a report from the Capital Police Directorate indicating that a group of terrorists set fire on a police patrol using Molotov cocktails for the aim of killing policemen. The attack resulted in the death of the driver and in injuries for two others. The security authorities launched an investigation and found that the terror group had set an ambush for a Public Security’s military vehicle and prepared gasoline and a flammable explosive device. They then monitored the movement of the police vehicle in Karbabad, and when it arrived at the site, they poured the petrol and set it on fire while the policemen were inside it, which led to the death of a policeman, whose body was completely charred, and the injury of two others. The Public Prosecution levelled the charges against the suspects based on testimonies from the witnesses, the confessions of the defendants, as well as a video clip of the crime. It referred the suspects to the High Criminal Court where they stood trial in the presence of their lawyers. The Advocate General confirmed that the defendants were afforded full legal rights throughout the trial, adding that they have the right to appeal the ruling, and may challenge the Court of Appeals' verdict at the Court of Cassation as guaranteed by Bahraini law.