Foreign intelligence case adjourned to March 22

Manama, Mar. 8 (BNA): Advocate General Ousama Al Oufi said that the High Criminal Court today completed its review of the case against Ali Salman Ali Ahmed, Hassan Ali Juma Sultan and Ali Mahdi Ali Al Aswad. The court decided to postpone the trial to March 22 to allow the defence to present its evidence. The accused had been referred by the Public Prosecution to the court on charges of intelligence with a foreign country to carry out hostile acts in Bahrain that would undermine its political and economic status and harm its national interests in order to topple the regime. Other charges included divulging defence secrets to a foreign country, accepting money from a foreign country for providing it with military secrets and details pertaining to the internal situation and disseminating erroneous and false information and allegations abroad in order to weaken financial trust in the Kingdom and undermine its prestige. The trial session today was held in public as stipulated by the law and the first accused Ali Salman attended it alongside his lawyers. The second and third accused are being tried in absentia. The court heard the testimony of the public prosecutor in which he said that the accused violated the noblest values and most scared principles by targeting the nation. "No act is more despicable than selling out the nation for the sake of a fake leadership," the Public Prosecution said. "When traitors are called by their own country and leaders, they reject the call, but when they are called by the forces of evil, they respond. Such forces give traitors the illusion they are leaders, welcome them ceremoniously and encourage their treason. However, deep inside, the evil forces are mocking them for they see them only as servants and tools to carry out their destructive plans. Once their role is over and they are of no use, they are dismissed. They end up lost, stranded and bound to the garbage heap of history." In its statement, the Public Prosecution reviewed all the evidence against the accused and which consisted of testimonies by witnesses, the recorded conversations between the accused and officials in Qatar, security reports that confirmed the defence secret details provided by the accused to Qatar and records of statements by the accused to Al Jazeera, the Qatari television channel that was the source of their propaganda. The Public Prosecution insisted all the evidence was solid and fully supported the charges condemning the accused. The Public Prosecution refuted the claims by the first accused that his acts were within the legal political framework, saying that there is a difference between permissible national political action and the acts of espionage and treachery committed by the accused and his companions that warrant their punishment. The Public Prosecution also stressed the convergence of the accused in the exploitation of Al Jazeera not only as a propaganda trumpet inciting to acts of sedition and vandalism and glorifying the perpetrators, but also as the main guide to saboteurs, disseminating calls for chaotic rallies and providing information about venues and timings for acts of sabotage and arson. The channel also provided information about the movements of the security forces to be targeted and broadcasted inciting allegations and seditious rumours. The Public Prosecution stressed that the schemes by Al Jazeera could not have been carried out without such traitors. Such plotting and scheming have succeeded in the destruction of some neighbouring countries as a result of treachery, but God has thwarted them in Bahrain thanks to His mercy and to the wisdom he bestowed on its leadership, the Public Prosecution said before calling for the maximum penalty against the accused.