Prosecution witnesses to testify in illegal sit-in case

Manama : Prosecution witnesses will take the stand before the High Criminal Court to provide evidence in the trial of 171 defendants accused of attacking police officers, who were tasked to disperse the illegal gathering outside the house of Shi’ite cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim. Tribune earlier reported that the demonstrators who organised the sit-in had weapons and grenades, according to a police officer’s statement before the High Criminal Court.  

“One of the defendants whom we arrested guided us to a cache, where a lot of weapons, grenades as well as firebombs were stored,” the officer said, adding: “They were meant to be used to attack police officers and disrupt the public order.”  Police say rocks, bricks, and metal rods, as well as firebombs, were used in attacking police from Isa Qassim’s home, while officers were trying to arrest terrorists hiding among the protesters.  The police officer who testified before the High Criminal Court said that all the protestors attacked them while they were attempting to restore order in Duraz – the stage of almost year-long protest.  

Five outlaws were killed and 31 policemen were injured during the operation. A total of 171 people have been put on trial before the High Criminal Court in connection with the protest, which was launched after Isa Qassim’s nationality was stripped in June 2016 for fuelling sectarian tensions and establishing organisations with foreign links. Authorities decided to raid the illegal gathering in May 2017 after Isa Qassim and two accomplices were convicted of laundering millions of dinars, for which they received suspended jail sentences.

Of the 171, however, only 24 defendants are in police custody as the remaining suspects have been granted BD200 bail each, pending the outcome of their trial. The defendants are facing charges of assault, possessing Molotov cocktails, using violence against police, rioting and taking part in an illegal gathering.