Manama: Bahrain’s Criminal Court in two separate cases sentenced five individuals to life imprisonment for collaborating with foreign entities.
Bahrain News Agency stated, “six defendants were charged in the two cases, including two Afghan nationals and four citizens, for collaborating with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to carry out terrorist and hostile acts against the Kingdom of Bahrain and harm its interests.”
The Court sentenced five defendants to life imprisonment, acquitted one defendant, and ordered the confiscation of the seized items, and permanent deportation of the Afghan defendants from the country after serving their sentence.
It added that the first incident date back to information confirmed by investigations conducted by the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Forensic Science, indicating that the IRGC had contacted one of the defendants, an Afghan national, and recruited him to execute its plans in the Kingdom of Bahrain. He was assigned intelligence-related tasks to monitor and photograph vital and important facilities inside the country and collect information about them.
“The defendant monitored vital facilities in the country and collected information about it in return for sums of money he received from the IRGC. The same defendant also recruited the second defendant, who is of the same aforementioned nationality, to assist him in those intelligence operations for the benefit of the said organisation. Accordingly, the two defendants were arrested while in possession of tools used in the commission of the crime,” the country’s news agency said.
It said that the second incident concerning certain members of the IRGC recruiting one of the defendants, a fugitive citizen present in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and persuading him to work for them in furtherance of their objectives directed against the country.
“He was tasked with searching for local elements inside the Kingdom to recruit and exploit in order to implement the plans of the aforementioned organisation. In implementation thereof, he was able to recruit the other three defendants, who are citizens, in the same incident. They were assigned tasks aimed at harming the security and interests of the country, including monitoring, observing and photographing vital facilities, collecting information about them, and providing such information to the IRGC,” the news agency said.
The Public Prosecution commenced its investigation into the two incidents immediately upon receiving the two reports. It questioned the arrested defendants, appointed technical experts to examine the seized electronic devices, and heard the statements of witnesses, including the officer who conducted the investigations. He stated that his investigations concluded that the data and information provided by the defendants to the IRGC constituted a fundamental basis for the hostile acts that targeted a number of vital facilities inside the Kingdom, thereby exposing the security and stability of the country to danger.
The two separate cases were heard over several sessions, during which all prescribed legal safeguards were observed, including the attendance of the defendants’ lawyers and enabling them to present their defence, until the Court issued the aforementioned judgment at today’s session. The Court had also issued an order prohibiting publication in the two cases, as they involved information relating to national security.
The Public Prosecution is considering appealing against the acquittal of the sixth defendant, it added.
