High Appeals Court rules in terror group case

Manama, Jan. 28 (BNA): Chief of the Terror Crime Prosecution Advocate General Chancellor Dr. Ahmed Al-Hammadi said the High Court of Appeal issued today its verdict in the case of forming a terror group, joining it in spite of knowing about its terrorist purposes, training in using weapons and explosives for terror purposes, murder and attempted murder of policemen, importing, possessing and using explosives, fire weapons and ammunition, theft, aggressing people in charge of enforcing the law of protecting the community from terror acts, the suspects’ escape after being arrested, helping convicts to escape and hiding convicts sentenced to jail. The court unanimously accepted in form the appeal of two suspects and upheld the challenged death sentence. It also accepted in form the appeal of 34 suspects, ruled to commute the sentence of four female suspects to three years in prison and upheld the remaining appealed verdicts. The Fourth High Criminal Court sentenced on January 31, 2018 two suspects to death, nineteen suspects to life in jail, seventeen suspects to fifteen years in prison, nine suspects to 10 years in prison, eleven suspects to five years in jail, acquitted two suspects, revoked the citizenship of 47 suspects and ruled to confiscate the seized items. Details of the case, according to the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID), show that ten convicts escaped from the Reform and Rehabilitation Centre at Jaw prison on January 1, 2017 which resulted in the death of a policeman from the prison’s guard force. Investigation showed the formation of a terrorist organisation which was set up and joined by many suspects, including 12 in Iran, Iraq and one in Germany. Forty six suspects in Bahrain, including ten who ran away from the prison. The leaders and members of the organisation prepared and planned for many terrorist crimes to undermine public order, jeopardize the kingdom’s security, undermine national unity and hamper public authorities from exercising their work. To attain these goals, the suspects committed the following crimes: -- Finding rifles and explosive devices on a boat on a beach in Nabih Saleh and finding a warehouse to store explosives, weapons and ammunition in Sitra on December 1, 2016. -- Attacking the Reform and Rehabilitation Centre at Jaw prison and helping a number of convicts in terror cases to escape. A policeman was killed and many others were injured in the incident on January 1, 2017. Fire weapons were also stolen. -- A terrorist act targeted a police patrol with fire weapons in which a policeman was injured in Bani Jamrah on January 14, 2017. -- A police officer was assassinated in Bilad Al Qadeem on January 28, 2017 in front of his farm. -- An attempt to escape outside the country and resisting policemen by opening fire on them inside the kingdom’s territorial waters. Three members of the organisation were killed in the incident on February 9, 2017. Investigations also revealed that the suspects who are at large in Iran and Iraq maintained communication with members of the organisation in the kingdom inside and outside the prison to recruit other members and provide them with explosives, fire weapons and ammunition after smuggling them into the country. They also supplied them with the needed money for their life and the organisation’s activities. They collaborated with the fugitive leader in Germany to arrange the travel procedures for many members to Iran and Iraq to train on using explosive devices and fire weapons at the Revolutionary Guard camps in order to prepare them to carry out terror crimes in Bahrain. It has also been found out that the explosives, fire weapons and ammunition seized on a boat in Nabih Saleh were due to the activities of the organisation’ leaders and members who were smuggling them from Iran and Iraq into the country by the sea to use them in the plotted terror crimes. The escape from the Reform and Rehabilitation Centre had been planned to help the convicts in terror cases to run away to carry out a number of terror crimes inside Bahrain and enable others to escape outside the country and join the organisation’s leaders in Iran and Iraq. Ten convicts escaped from the centre with the help of four suspects from the organisation outside the prison. A policeman was killed in the incident. A number of other suspects from the organisation also opened fire on a policeman in Bani Jamrah to undermine public order and kill policemen under the directives of the organisation’s leaders abroad. The assassination of a policeman in Bilad Al Qadeem was planned by one of the organisation’s leaders in Iran and another in Bahrain who perpetrated the crime individually using a rifle that was supplied by the organisation’s leaders. Resisting the authorities and opening fire on the policemen in the kingdom’s territorial waters was part of an attempt to smuggle ten suspects from the organisation out of Bahrain. The suspects opened fire on the police force which followed the legal procedures in this regard and were forced to exchange fire with the suspects. Three of the suspects were killed in the shootout and many others were injured. The security authorities arrested a number of suspects according to the provisions of the Community Protection Law, inspected their homes and places used as warehouses. Many explosive devices, fire weapons, ammunition, cars and boats used in committing terror crimes and smuggling operations were confiscated. The suspects were referred to the Fourth High Criminal Court where the case was heard and after listening to the defence and Public Prosecution pleadings, the court decided to hand the suspects utmost punishment by issuing its afore-mentioned verdict that was upheld by the High Court of Appeal today.