Court upheld death sentence of cop killers

Manama : The Supreme Appeals Court yesterday upheld the death sentences issued against three defendants convicted of murdering three policemen on March 3, 2014. 

Seven persons are implicated in this case, and each of them have had their life imprisonment upheld. Emirati officer First Lieutenant Tariq Al Shehhi, 41, Yemeni Ammar Abdu Ali Al Dhalei, 35, and Pakistani Muhammad Arslan Ramzan, 22, were killed when an improvised bomb was remotely-triggered. 

At least seven others were injured in the incident, which recorded the highest death toll suffered by security forces in a single attack since the 2011. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said it was one of the three blasts in Daih, although the other two resulted in no injuries. 

A fourth bomb was discovered and defused. A medical examiner earlier stated before the court that injuries were caused by projectiles packed inside the explosive device. He said, “Al Shehhi died due to the projectiles scattered by the bomb, while the other two policemen were killed as a result of the impact of the explosive.”

Judges at the Supreme Appeals Court upheld revoking the nationalities of first eight defendants. The Bahrainis were earlier fined a combined total of BD929.661 for the property damages caused by the blast. The Supreme Appeals Court supported this fine also.

The defendants - allegedly members of the so-called Saraya Al Ashtar (Al Ashtar Brigade) - made 10 home-made explosives, while the third and fourth defendants, aged 24 and 40, planted three of the bombs near a mall in Daih to “kill as many policemen as possible”. 

The court based its ruling on the evidence provided by the Public Prosecution. Mobile phone communications of one of the suspects confirmed they were in contact with each other. 

Their conversations included the targeting of police officers. 

Moreover, the crime scene report showed that the DNA of one of the suspects was on one of the explosive that was not detonated.