Manama T he High Criminal Court yesterday handed down jail terms to 57 accused in connection with forming a terrorist group with links to Iran and Iraq. Except for one of the accused, the court stripped of the other accused's Bahraini nationality. Though 61 defendants had been tr
Manama
The High Criminal Court yesterday handed down jail terms to 57 accused in connection with forming a terrorist group with links to Iran and Iraq. Except for one of the accused, the court stripped of the other accused’s Bahraini nationality.
Though 61 defendants had been tried in this case, the remaining four accused were acquitted due to lack of evidence. Prosecutors referred the defendants to trial over accusations of forming a terrorist group in the Kingdom of Bahrain with links to hard-liners affiliated to Al Shirazi Movement.
Five of the convicted men were slapped with life-time in prison while 22 defendants were given 15 years each in jail. The other 30 convicts left the courtroom with 10-year jail sentences each, but one of them received extra three years imprisonment. They were all fined BD500, except seven of them, who received fines BD1000 apiece.
Topping the list of the convicts is notorious prisoner Redha Al Ghasra, whose nationality has been already stripped. Thus the High Criminal Court didn’t extend this ruling (removing his nationality) to him, given he is already stateless. Four of his brothers are also involved in the same case. Al Ghasra is serving a combined total well over 150 years behind bars after being convicted in a set of terrorism-related cases.
It’s said that the group was formed by the first defendant, Habib Al Jamri, who is still at large. According to the records that Al Jamri fled Bahrain in 2011 after lifting the State of National Safety in Bahrain, which was imposed in the wake of the unrest.
He reportedly traveled to Iraq, where he met Mohammed Taqi Al Madrasi and Hadi Al Madrasi, two hardliners affiliated to Al Shirazi Movement. The latter is implicated in plotting a military coup against the Bahraini regime in 1981. It’s claimed that the defendant and Taqi Al Madrasi have attracted young Bahrainis to the group.
Al Jamri is said to have facilitated the flights of several co-accomplices to Iraq and Iran, where they had been provided training in arms.
Al Jamri also designed terrorist plans, but the fifth defendant was the leader of the group in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Investigations also confirmed that the defendants had imported arms into Bahrain through sea route and several accused travelled overseas to receive militants’ training.
