Detective to testify on Jan 19

Manama : A detective who investigated the case of 18 men charged of spying for Iran and terrorist organisation Hezbollah is set to testify on January 19.

The Bahrainis, aged 28 to 59, allegedly formed the Al Basta Group that has links with another terrorist group Al Wafa Al Islamic Stream. 

However only 10 of the 18 men are in police custody now, while the remaining suspects are still at large and tried in absentia. 

According to court files, twin brothers Ali Ahmed Fakhrawi and Mohammed Ahmed Fakhrawi, aged 33, formed the Al Basta Group. It aimed to recruit people into extremism and worked to incite the public and spread false accounts against the government and the regime.

Prosecutors said that the group members had met leaders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah, during which they received financial aid and technical support to carry out criminal activities across the Kingdom. The group is said to have provided Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah with confidential reports on the political, economical and social situations in Bahrain.  

The defendants reportedly used their remuneration for helping convicted men in terror cases and further encouraged them to commit more terror acts. 

Ali Ahmed Fakhrawi travelled to Iran in 2011 to secure the morale, logistical and financial support to execute the group’s terrorist plans. 

He relied on terrorist members living in Iran and has close links with leaders of Iranian Revolutionary Guard.