Death penalty of Bahraini bombers upheld
The Cessation Court, the highest court in Bahrain, yesterday upheld the death sentences issued against two defendants in a murder case.
The duo has been convicted in connection with a bomb blast that killed a police officer and injured five others.
Another 10 defendants, implicated in the case, were also convicted by the same court. They were earlier handed down six years’ jail except for the third convict, who received life sentence.
Six of the defendants, however, are still at large and were held guilty in absentia.
Those who received the death sentences were Mohammed Ramadan Hussein, a 31-year-old former corporal head at Bahrain International Airport; and Hussein Moussa Mohammed, a 27-year-old former hotel employee.
They were convicted of planned murder, attempted murder, detonating and possessing an explosive device, participating in an illegal gathering and possessing Molotov cocktails. All the 12 Bahrainis were standing trial for their role in the murder of policeman Abdulwaheed Sayyed Mohammed Al Balooshi, 29, who suffered fatal chest injures in an explosion in Dair on February 14, 2014, marking the third anniversary of the anti-government protests.
His colleague, Faris Abdullah Nasser, was also injured in the blast and had to undergo treatment at King Hamad University Hospital.
The 12 convicts were among the 40 masked thugs who had rioted in the area before setting off the bomb. They reportedly lured the security officers towards the location of the bomb by pelting them with Molotov cocktails and stones.
The explosion occurred near a mosque in the area while the officers were trying to clear the road from debris thrown by the rioters.
The defendants’ role in the crime was established based on evidences collected from the scene, their statements, police investigations and witnesses’ testimonies. The third defendant had earlier said that he had given the idea of murdering police officers to the hotel employee, but it was the former corporal head who gave them the bomb and instructed them to riot in the area in order to attract police officers to the area.
The hotel employee is said to have been the one who planted the bomb.
Photo Caption: Late Abdulwaheed Sayyed Mohammed Al Balooshi
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