Bahrain jails five for spying

Manama : Five persons convicted of operating an Iranian-backed terrorist cell that carried out attacks across Bahrain have had their sentences upheld. 

The defendants were earlier slapped with life sentence each, and their Bahraini citizenship had been revoked in the process. 

Aged 20 to 38, the defendants have been convicted of conducting espionage-related activities within Bahrain on behalf of the Iranian government, planning terrorist attacks, and receiving training on the use of weapons and explosives.

However, only two of the defendants are in police custody, while the remaining three are still at large, with two of them believed to be in Iran. 

The arrested duo, aged 21 and 22, reportedly travelled to Iran to receive arms and explosives training between August and September in 2014. One of the absconding suspects is Sadiq Isa Al Hayki, has been handed down a combined total of 38 years in prison, in absentia, for terrorism. 

The third defendant at large is Jassim Ahmed Abdullah, who has already been sentenced to a combined total of 25 years behind bars. His citizenship was also  stripped after he was held guilty of weapons smuggling and funding a terrorist cell. 

Meanwhile, the last defendant, who is at large, is named Fadhel Abbas Ali, and he was earlier convicted of triggering bombs in the Kingdom. 

 One of the accused in police custody revealed earlier before prosecutors how he and his co-defendant flew to Iran to receive arms and weapons training.

“I met my friend (Fadhel Abbas Ali) at demonstrations and he told me that I could join them,” the 22-year-old student said in his statement.  

“He provided me with a BlackBerry phone and told me that he added a contact named ‘Ya Qa’em Al Mohammed.’ This person then contacted me and asked me to travel to Iran to receive training on weapons,” he added. 

He told prosecutors that his brother was in jail and his mother was sick and alone. However he convinced them that he was going to Iran to do a ‘favour’ for his country.