Bahrain upholds death sentence against men who 'planned to assassinate' an Emir

The Bahraini High Military Court of Appeals yesterday upheld the death sentence against four people, including three civilians and a soldier, who were convicted of forming a terrorist cell and planning to assassinate the commander-in-chief of the Bahraini armed forces.

The court said the convicts “planned to assassinate the commander-in-chief of the Bahraini armed forces, the Emir Sheikh Khalifa Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, and commit a number of other terrorist crimes,” the Bahrain News Agency reported.

This is the first case in which civilians are tried before the Bahrain Military Court of Appeals after amending the constitution in April last year allowing civilians to be tried before military courts.

The four defendants are soldier Mubarak Adil and civilians Sayed Abbas, Sayyid Hussein and Muhammad Al-Muttghawi.

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The defendants can still appeal the verdict before the Military Court of Cassation.

The court also upheld a 15-year prison term against the defendants.

In the same case, the Court accepted the appeals of two defendants and reduced their sentence from seven years to five years while upholding a seven years prison term against two others.