Man gets one-year jail for illegally possessing firearm

TDT | Manama

A Bahraini man was sentenced to one year of imprisonment after he was found guilty for illegally possessing a firearm. Following almost two years of deliberation, the First High Criminal Court announced the verdict yesterday.

The 25-year-old was arrested in 2018 after he allegedly shot a teargas canister at a crowd in Eker village in the southeastern parts of the Capital Governorate.

The man wasn’t immediately arrested, but police investigations and the results of laboratory tests on the canister showed traces of his DNA, leading to his identification and detention.

The testimony of an eyewitness mentioned: “We are a group of friends who always gather in one place, but we were stunned when a man passed by us with his car and pelted the canister at us without any reason. “We couldn’t note down his car’s registration plate number due the heavy smokes emitting from the canister.”

On June 23, 2018, the Public Prosecution announced that it charged the defendant of possessing the firearm and canister without obtaining the necessary permit from the Interior Ministry.