*** ----> Bahrain court jails three family members for joining Islamic State in Syria | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

Bahrain court jails three family members for joining Islamic State in Syria

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Three family members, who were found guilty of joining the Islamic State, were handed jail terms on terrorism charges by a Bahraini Court.

The High Criminal Court sentenced a 52-year-old man and his two relatives to three years behind bars for terrorist activities. Court files said the defendants distributed pro-IS brochures and wrote slogans on the walls venerating terrorism acts.

Investigators found the first suspect, aged 52, travelled to Syria in 2013 under the pretext of taking part in a humanitarian relief mission. Police said that his real mission was, however, joining the Al Nusra front.

After joining the front, the man also persuaded the two others to support IS from Bahrain. Police told the court that he was seeking to recruit more men to join the terrorist organisation. The 52-year-old man also confessed during interrogation that he was attracted to Jihadist doctrines since the early nineties. “I decided to join them once he travelled to Syria.

“I knew my cousins (the second and third defendants) were also trying to fight with jihadists, so I established links with them,” he added. Public prosecution charged the trio with attempts to harm the state unity, promote terrorist operations and spread takfir ideas.