Court sends seven to jail in terror case

The fourth High Criminal Court yesterday awarded varying jail terms to seven terror suspects found guilty of running and joining a terrorist organisation linked to a terrorist organisation “Al-Ashtar Brigades”. Chief of the Terror Crime Prosecution, Advocate General Chancellor Dr Ahmed Al-Hammadi said the court sentenced the first five suspects to life in jail and handed down the sixth and seventh suspects seven-year jail terms.

The court also ordered the confiscation of the seized items. The suspects were also charged with possessing and manufacturing explosives, possessing firearms and ammunition without a license, receiving training on weapons and explosive materials and funding terrorism. Court files say the first suspect, a member of the “Al-Ashtar Brigades”, recruited the fourth suspect and send him to Iraq to receive training at one of the camps of Iraqi “Kata’ib Hezbollah” on firearms and explosives.

The seventh suspect received training on monitoring security patrols. Investigators found that the fourth suspect received military training in 2017, with the assistance of the sixth and second suspects. The fourth suspect also recruited the fifth. The files say Iraqi “Kata’ib Hezbollah” also trained the fifth suspect in 2016 on making explosive materials and devices.

The fourth suspect was instructed by the first to receive the explosive device and monitor the security patrols accompanying oil tankers to target them. Then, the fourth and fifth defendants received the explosives and inspected the security patrols. The third suspect instructed the fifth to receive and transport firearms and materials for terrorist purposes, Al-Hammadi said.