Two Bahrainis get 10-yr jail for terror activities
Two Bahraini suspects, accused of receiving militia training in Iraq, have been slapped with 10 years’ jail each and their citizenship stripped in the process.
Among the accused is a 21-year-old student, who was pursuing a bachelor’s degree. He was reportedly recruited by radical groups to carry out attacks against security forces, according to court files.
The other accused, aged 31, is in Iran and was tried in absentia.
The 31-year-old fugitive is said to have convinced his co-defendant to join an extremist group called Bahraini Hezbollah, following which he sent him to Iraq to receive arms training at a militia training camp operated by the Popular Mobilisation Units. He was also shown how to make improvised weapons in addition to weapons as well as grenades knowhow.
“While I was using my BlackBerry, I received a friendship invitation from a stranger on my Messenger. I accepted it and we began exchanging conversations,” the 21-year-old said in his statement.
“I was studying in a university in an Arab country for my bachelor’s degree at that time. He told me that he was staying in Iran and offered me to go to Iraq and
receive arms training in order to attack police officers in Bahrain when I go back. I told him I need three weeks to think about this, but eventually I gave him the green signal.
“He took my travel expenses, and I was getting training on how to use explosives and they showed me videos showing bombs and on how to attack armoured vehicles,” he said in his statement.
The defendant was arrested upon his arrival in Bahrain following a police tip-off about his overseas activities.
The 31-year-old is implicated in several other terror cases for attempting to recruit Bahrainis to join radical groups responsible for assaulting police officers.
The Bahraini Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for a string of attacks against the security forces in the Kingdom.
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