A Bahraini appeals court has upheld life prison sentences against five men convicted of spying for Iran.
A May 29 statement by the prosecution said the court rejected the appeal by the five defendants.
The men were convicted in November of “spying for and seeking with Iran and its agents to carry out hostile acts against the kingdom.”
They were found guilty of working with Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp to carry out attacks in Bahrain against “public and financial institutions.”
Bahrain News Agency reported from Manama on May 29 that Chief of the Terror Crime Prosecution, Advocate General Ahmed Al Hammadi said the High Court of Appeal upheld today a verdict in a case of intelligence for a foreign country and training on the use of weapons and explosives.
The High Criminal Court on November 5 sentenced five suspects to life in prison, ordered the confiscation of the seized items and ruled the revocation of their citizenship. The convicts were accused of intelligence for a foreign country and other parties working for it in order to carry out terror acts in Bahrain targeting public and financial institutions.
Two of the convicts received military training in Iran on making and using explosives and fire weapons to carry out hostile terror acts in Bahrain. The other convicts participated in the crime by sending the first two convicts to Iran, providing them with financial support and collaborating with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to complete their military training.
The five defendants, three of whom in custody, were referred to the High Criminal Court, and its ruling was upheld by the High Court of Appeal.
Source: Agencies, 30 May 2016