Plot to kill BDF Chief: Death penalty upheld

Manama: Bahrain’s top Military Court yesterday upheld the death sentences of four men for forming a terrorist cell and plotting to assassinate a senior military official here last year.

The four men were among six others sentenced to death by the Military High Court last December for attempting to assassinate Field Marshal Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, the Commander-in-Chief of Bahrain Defence Force (BDF).

“The Military Court of Cassation turned down the objections raised by four convicts against the death penalty and 15 years jail term as well as revocation of their Bahraini nationality,” a statement released by BDF said yesterday. 

One of the accused was a serving soldier before his arrest. 

The men sentenced to capital punishment are Mubarak Adel Mubarak Mohanna, a soldier, Fadhil Alsayed Abbas Hassan Radhi, Alsayed Alawi Hussain Alawi Hussain and Mohammed Abdulhassan Ahmed Almitghawi.”

According to an earlier report by Bahrain News Agency, 18 defendants were originally implicated in the plot.

The Court also upheld a 7-year jail term and revocation of the nationality of Mohammed Abdulhussain Saleh Al Shehabi and Mohammed Abdulwahid Mohammed Alnajjar. They were sentenced along with five others who are members of the terrorist cell on December 25. Five other Bahraini men were acquitted.

Issuing the verdict, the Military Cassation Court said, “The Court also turned down the objections raised by the two convicts against the seven-year jail term as well as revocation of their Bahraini nationality.”

The statement further said that all “judicial sureties were granted, in compliance with the Criminal Procedures Law 2002 and the Military Judiciary Law 2002, to the defendants including access to defence lawyers. 

The defendants, Court said, have the right to challenges this first-instance court ruling at the Military Appeals High Court and the Military Court of Cassation according to provisions of the
law. 

“Representatives of human rights institutions and societies, media channels and several relatives of the defendants attended the court session,” the  BDF statement said.