East Eker blast: Court rejects appeals of 12 terror suspects

Twelve persons convicted of murdering a police officer had their appeals rejected and sentences upheld. 

Among the Bahraini appellants is a 31-year-old, who was earlier given the death penalty. 

Seven of the others were sentenced to life in prison, while the remaining four were given 10 years behind bars. 

All the accused were ordered to be stripped of their Bahraini nationality based on a new anti-terrorism-law approved in 2013, and the Supreme Appeals Court supported the verdict.

The defendants were accused of the premeditated murder of policeman Mahmood Fareed. 

They allegedly used SIM cards of Asian labourers to make calls to mobile phones that remotely detonated homemade explosives in East Eker. 

They are also charged with being part of a terrorist cell that carried out a spate of bombings targeting policemen. 

The 24-year-old Pakistani was patrolling the area when the explosion happened and he suffered injuries to his legs and abdomen. He was rushed to the BDF Hospital, but died shortly after midnight. 

Another officer suffered minor injuries in the blast, which a group calling itself Saraya Al Ashtar (Al Ashtar Brigade) claimed responsibility for. 

Among the accused is a teenager who earlier described how he helped plant a bomb that killed the officer. 

The 19-year-old told prosecutors, “He (the 31-year-old) handed out instructions to everyone in the group. My role was to survey a police armoured vehicle which was always stationed in Eker. I watched it for eights days, every day, from 7pm to 9pm.”

“Later I placed a wooden plank to mark the area where the armoured police vehicle was always stationed,” he added. 

A colleague of the deceased officer said earlier Fareed was killed as he was on his way to perform evening prayers.