Bid to join IS: Trial to be held on Sept. 10

Manama

 Closing arguments will be heard on September 10 in the trial of a man accused of attempting to travel abroad to join a terrorist organisation.  His lawyer made his first appearance yesterday before the High Criminal Court, where he requested to review the court papers. 

 The defendant was captured for trying to travel to Oman using a passport that doesn't belong to him. Later it was learned that he was trying to flee to Turkey to join the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

 The 26-year-old reportedly manipulated his appearance to look alike the photograph attached with the passport in an effort to mislead the Customs officers. However, he was apprehended after officers recognised the facial differences between his face and the image of the person in the document. 

 The Public Prosecution had initially said in a statement that the suspect was attempting to travel to Oman, but he underlined during interrogation that his final destination was Turkey to seek political asylum. He resorted to this trick to leave Bahrain as he is on the Kingdom's travel ban list, according to court documents.  

 He possessed the passport of another man after deceiving him by offering a fake fully paid trip to Mecca to perform Umrah. 

 "The owner of the passport revealed that he wasn't aware of the intention of the suspect," the Public Prosecution said in a statement. 

 "The defendant booked two tickets, one to Oman and the other one to Turkey as he was trying to join an outlawed group," according to the statement.  The defendant was arrested at the Bahrain International Airport on April 20 this year.