Bahrain Mirror: The Bahraini High Criminal Court, presided over by Judge Ibrahim Al-Zayed with the memberships of judges Diaa Huraidi and Wajih Al-Shaer and Yousef Abu Hardan as secretariat, looked into the case of 138 defendants accused of forming "Zulfiqar Brigades", having contact with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, executing 19 bomb operations, and planting hoax bombs in a number of areas across Bahrain.

The court decided to adjourn the case until October 3, 2016. 86 defendants in the case are in the authorities' custody, while 52 others are still at large.

The Public Prosecution raised a number of charges against the defendants. It accused the first three defendants of forming a terrorist group from 2013 to 2016, and leading it for the purpose of calling for disobedience of the law and constitution, preventing the government from performing its duties and harming national unity. The prosecution further said that Terrorism was used to accomplish this aim and the defendants recruited a number of persons as member in the group to target security servicemen.

The remaining 135 defendants, along with other unknown suspects, face a number of charges regarding incidents of setting hoax bombs, and planting explosives in some areas, attempted murder of policeman, possession of firearms, and damaging Works Ministry property, as well as 7 civilian vehicles.

A number of defendants also fae charges of receiving training on the use of weapons and explosives in Iraninan Revolutionary Guard camps and Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades, and communicating with Revolutionary Guard members to commit bomb attacks in Bahrain.

Human rights organizations challenge the charges raised against political detainees, since they doubt the independence of the judiciary, whose members are assigned by royal decrees, and since it issues sentences based on confessions extracted under duress and evidence presented by secret investigations and anonymous witnesses

Arabic Version