Bahrain Mirror: The Supreme Court of Appeal adjourned during its Monday (January 2, 2017) meeting the case pertaining to convicts accused of joining ISIS. The Court scheduled (January 12, 2017) to be the date of the pleading and for assigning lawyers for the appellants.

During yesterday's session, 7 appellants stood before court with a number of lawyers among them Abdullah Hachem and Manar al-Tamimi. Hachem requested a re-questioning of a prosecution witness, because a First Instance Court did not respond to directing 80% of the questions. On her part, al-Tamimi and another lawyer request a date to be set for the pleading.

The High Criminal Court had convicted (Thursday June 22, 2016) 24 citizens (between 16 and 42 years of age) with joining ISIS. They were sentenced to between 15 years and life imprisonment, while 13 had their citizenships revoked. The citizenships of 11 other convicts among them were also revoked before, as part of the Ministry of Interior list of 72 people issued (January 31, 2015).

According to the court document, the first convict is "Turki Al-Binali", who is of an extremist Takfirist ideology. He joined al-Qaeda and was trained by its leaders. He later pledged allegiance to Abu Baker Baghdadi in leading the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS). Al-Baghdadi appointed Al-Binali as ISIS's first leader in Bahrain, and entrusting him with recruiting people. The aim was to form a cell that would take part in the militia operations in Syria and Iraq, and then return to Bahrain and direct its operations there and towards the Gulf.

In February 24, 2014, Turki Al-Binali became the religious preacher in ISIS, defending all the terrorist attempts and attacks based on the movement's Takfirist approach.

The Public Prosecution was able to confiscate all electronic devices possessed by the convicts, revealing the taped allegiance of some of the defendants. The prosecution also found religious Takfirist books written by some defendants, with pictures for them with other ISIS members in different battle areas holding guns. Voice and videos recordings showed the faces of some defendants in this case as well.

One of those video recordings showed ISIS members, among them some of the convicted defendants, calling on the people of Bahrain, warning them of joining security apparatuses, believing they are advocates of "disbelief". One of the convicted defendants also called on the people of Bahrain, in the same video, to migrate to Syria and Iraq, to fight with ISIS.

Arabic Version