Life in prison verdict issued for Al Ashtar terror convicts

The High Criminal Court has sentenced five men to life each behind bars after convicting them of running a terrorist group, namely Saraya Al Ashtar (Al Ashtar Brigades). Two other men involved in the case received only seven years in prison each. It’s said that the first defendant, a prominent leader in the terrorist group, recruited the fourth defendant in order to carry out terrorist attacks in the Kingdom.

Therefore, he paved the way for him to travel to Iraq to undergo military training at a camp belonging to Iraqi Hizbollah. He was trained on how to use guns and explosives by the seventh defendant, according to Prosecutors. The same goes to the fifth defendant who also visited Iraq for the same purpose, they added. Prosecutors said that the seven defendants later planned to bomb a petrol tank near security check-points to kill police officers.

However, their plot was foiled before seeing the light thanks to a precautionary operation and they were arrested. It’s reported that the defendants were caught in possession of machine guns, explosives and other weapons too.  Two men accused of funding terrorism have been hit with three years behind bars as well as a fine of BD100,000 each. According to Prosecutors, the pair were part of Al Ashtar Brigades terrorist group and they were providing financial support to help implement its terrorist plans in an effort to destabilise the Kingdom and target police officers.

It’s said that the first defendant assigned the second defendant to receive money via different illegal channels and he funded terrorists to boost their activities, while some of the cash was given to families of the men convicted in security cases. The defendants were held guilty based on the technical pieces of evidence submitted against them as well as their statements before the Public Prosecution.