Police officer killer sentenced to death

Manama, Apr. 29 (BNA): The High Criminal Court has sentenced one man to death and seven defendants to life in prison for their role in the killing a police officer and the attempted killing of other officers. Chief of the Terror Crime Prosecution and Advocate General Ahmed Al Hammadi said that four other defendants were given ten years in jail each in the same case. The citizenship of all defendants is to be revoked, the court ruled. The Public Prosecution said that the first defendant set up in 2014 an illegal group with the purpose of using terror among other means to stall the provisions of the constitution and the laws. The other defendants later joined the group. Ten defendants were charged with deliberately killing Mahmood Fareed after they plotted to target the police officers tasked with security in the Eker area and prepared an explosive device for the purpose. The eighth defendant planted it in on the site where the officers carried out their duties. When the patrol arrived and Mahmood Fareed got off the vehicle, the first defendant remotely detonated the device to kill him. The victim succumbed to his wounds. The defendants attempted to kill the other officers, using the same detonation method. The defendants were also charged with possessing and using explosive devices, putting people’s lives at risk and damaging a vehicle owned by the Ministry of Interior. The 11th and 12th defendants were charged with participating in causing explosions and using documents belonging to other people to buy mobile phone chips. The evidence against the defendants was gathered from the confessions of the four of them who had been arrested, the police investigations, the testimonies of the witnesses and the reports from the crime scene, from the criminal investigation laboratory and from the doctors. The four defendants were put on trial while the others are still being sought by the police. At the trial, the court listened to the pleas of the defense and to the public prosecution. The prosecution called for the death penalty for all defendants. However, the court ruled the capital punishment for the main defendant. The death penalty can be challenged at the court of appeals and subsequently at the court of cassation. Under Bahrain’s laws, the death penalty is carried out only after the approval of the court of appeals and the court of cassation, even if the defendant or his lawyers do not take the case to them. Number of readings : 211 Last updated : 02 : 29 PM - 29/04/2015