Two get death for cop murder in Bahrain

Manama : The High Criminal Court sentenced two defendants to death and 19 to life in prison yesterday. 

The court also sentenced 17 defendants to 15 years in jail, nine to 10 years and 11 to five years and acquitted two suspects. It also stripped 48 defendants of their citizenship.

The 60 suspects were put on trial on charges of forming a terrorist group in breach of the law and of joining it even though they were aware of its terrorist purposes. They were trained on the use of weapons and explosives for terrorist purposes and deliberate attempts to murder policemen. 

The suspects also imported, possessed and used explosives, firearms and ammunition in armed robbery for terrorist purposes. The suspects assaulted law enforcement personnel who protected the community from terrorist acts. The suspects forcefully resisted arrest, fled from detention, assisted convicts to escape and gave shelters to convicted inmates.

According to Criminal Investigation Department (CID) records, the case annals date back to January 1, 2017, when ten convicts escaped from the Jaw Reformatory and Rehabilitation Centre, killing one policeman from the prison warden force in the process.

The investigations revealed the formation of a terrorist organization, established and joined by a number of suspects, including 12 in Iran and Iraq, one in Germany and 40, including the 10 fugitives, in Bahrain.

The group leaders and members plotted numerous terrorist crimes aimed to destabilise public order, undermine the Kingdom’s safety and security, damage national unity, and hamper the official authorities in carrying out their duties. 

In order to achieve their terrorist purposes, the suspects committed the following crimes:

On 1/12/2016, machine-guns and explosive packages were seized inside a speedboat off Al Nabih Saleh coast; a warehouse which was used to store explosive packages, weapons and ammunition were also discovered in Sitra area.

On 1/12017, the Jaw Reformatory and Rehabilitation Centre was attacked and a number of convicted inmates escaped, which resulted in killing one policeman and injuring others, as well as stealing firearms.

On 14/1/2017, a terrorist attack targeted one of the police patrols with live bullets, resulting in wounding one policeman in Bani Jamrah.

On 28/1/2017, a police officer was assassinated in Bilad Al Qadeem in front of his private farm.

On 9/2/2017, the fugitives attempted to escape abroad, resisted arrest and targeted policemen with live bullets, resulting in the death of three members of the terrorist organization.

The investigations unravelled the suspects’ formation of their terrorist organisation, and how the suspects who are fugitives in Iran and Iraq communicated with members of the organisation in the Kingdom who are inmates inside the prison or outside the prison to recruit other elements.

They supplied them with various sorts of explosives, firearms and ammunition that had been smuggled into the country. They also supplied them with the necessary funds to spend for their subsistence and on the activities of their terrorist organisation. They jointly with their leader who was a fugitive in Germany managed the travel procedures for members of the organisation to travel to Iran and Iraq to train on the use of explosives, firearms in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard camps to prepare them to carry out terrorist crimes in Bahrain.

The investigations also led to the seizure of explosives, firearms, ammunition on a speedboat in Al Nabih Saleh area as part of the smuggling activities from Iran and Iraq to Bahrain via the sea. The weapons were to be used in the implementation of their plotted terrorist crimes. 

The operation in the Reformatory and Rehabilitation Centre was prepared for the purpose of enabling the inmates who were convicted in terrorist crimes and who are members of the terrorist group to escape and carry out several terrorist attacks in the country and to enable some of them to escape abroad to join the leaders of the group in Iran and Iraq from where they would lead the remaining members in Bahrain in carrying out terrorist crimes. The ten convicted members of the group who escaped were assisted by four members of the group who were outside the prison.

The shooting of a policeman and his injury in Bani Jamrah was committed by a number of suspects who were members of the terrorist group other than those who had escaped from prison. It was part of the group’s activities aimed to destabilize public order and to assassinate policemen and was directed by the group leaders living abroad.

The assassination of the police officer in Bilad Al Qadeem was carried out according to a plot by one of the group’s leaders in Iran with one of its members inside Bahrain who carried out the assassination by himself using a machinegun supplied by the group leaders. The assassination occurred after monitoring the whereabouts of the victim.

The firing by ten fugitives, including one who had escaped from prison, in the speedboat at policemen was in Bahrain’s territorial waters during their attempt to escape outside the country. Three of the suspects had participated in implementing the escape operation and the fourth was a member of the group that had assassinated the police officer. 

The suspects began shooting after proper warnings had been issued by the police force tasked with arresting them according to prescribed legal procedures. The police personnel were forced to exchange fire with the suspects, which resulted in the death of three and the injuries of several other suspects.

The security personnel arrested a number of the suspects in accordance with the Law for the Protection of the Community against Terrorist Acts, searched their homes and seized a large cache of explosives, detonators, hand grenades, explosive molds, automatic Kalashnikov machineguns, pistols, ammunition, vehicles and boats used in carrying out terrorist attacks and smuggling operations.

Thirty-six suspects were arrested and referred to the Public Prosecution which questioned them. Some of the suspects confessed to the charges. 

The Public Prosecution also moved to various locations set up by the suspects to store weapons, explosives materials and the materials used in their manufacturing. The suspects’ statements on the crimes corroborated with their confessions and technical and forensic test results.