Manama: The Chief Prosecutor of the Terrorist Crimes Prosecution stated that the High Criminal Court issued, at its session held today, Tuesday, its judgment in two separate cases relating to collaboration with foreign entities. Six defendants were charged in the two cases, including two Afghan nationals and four citizens, with collaborating with the terrorist 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, ordered the confiscation of the seized items, and ordered the permanent deportation of the Afghan defendants from the country after serving their sentence.
According to Bahrain News Agency, the details of 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 terrorist plans in the Kingdom of Bahrain. He was assigned intelligence-related tasks to carry out hostile acts against the Kingdom of Bahrain and harm its interests, consisting of monitoring and photographing vital and important facilities inside the country and collecting information about them. In implementation thereof, the defendant monitored one of the vital facilities and collected information about it in return for sums of money he received from the terrorist 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 w ere arrested while in possession of tools used in the commission of the crime.
The details of the second incident also date back to information confirmed by investigations conducted by the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Forensic Science concerning certain members of the terrorist 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 terrorist objectives directed against the Kingdom of Bahrain. He was tasked with searching for local elements inside the Kingdom to recruit and exploit in order to implement the plans of the aforementioned terrorist 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 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 terrorist IRGC constituted a fundamental basis for the hostile terrorist acts that targeted a number of vital facilities inside the Kingdom, thereby exposing the security and stability of the country to danger.
In light of the foregoing, the Public Prosecution ordered the referral of the defendants to the High Criminal Court. 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, given that they involved information relating to national security.
The Public Prosecution is studying the judgment insofar as it acquitted one defendant, and is considering appealing it before the Court of Appeal based on the evidence established against him.
In this context, the Public Prosecution affirms that the crime of collaborating with foreign entities hostile to the Kingdom of Bahrain is among the most serious crimes affecting national security, as it enables such entities to obtain information that may be exploited in carrying out hostile acts targeting the Kingdom and its interests. The Public Prosecution further stresses that it will continue, within the powers vested in it by law, to firmly confront anyone who commits such criminal acts and to take deterrent legal measures against them, in protection of the security and stability of the country.