Dar Kulaib rioters’ jail sentences cut on plea

The High Appeals Court has commuted the sentences issued against five defendants convicted of burning tires in Dar Kulaib with an aim to cause law and order situation. The defendants were earlier given sentences between three and five years. However, upon appeal, their sentences were reduced to three years in prison for three defendants while the remaining two received two years in jail. The convicted men are said to have participated in 12 riots including the one at Dar Kulaib.

They were traced after the police found the presence of a green car at all 12 rioting scenes, according to Prosecutors. Investigations were carried out to identify its owner, and they resulted in his arrest along with four other men. “We could see the green car at all rioting scenes and this raised our suspicions. The last one was in Dar  Kulaib, where several tires were set on fire,” the police officer who led investigations into the case told prosecutors.

“My probe has concluded that five men were using the vehicle to carry out riots across the Kingdom,” he said. The owner of the car was already jailed in connection with a security case and he was released in February 2018 only to return back to resume his illicit activities. “I was released in February 2018, and I met the second defendant. An unknown man requested us to buy an old car to be used for transporting rioting items. He gave us BD150,” the first defendant revealed to prosecutors.