Bahrain Mirror: Bahrain's Fifth High Criminal Court, presided over by judge Abdullah Al-Ashraf and membership of judges Mohsen Mabrouk and Ousama Al-Shathili and Abdullah Mohammad as secretariat, handed down 7-year jail term to 12 suspects over burning 18 tires on public street and 5-year term to 4 others in the same case because they were under 18 years.

The Public Prosecution claimed that all the suspects, on October 16, 2014, along with others, deliberately set fire to movable property, endangering people's lives and properties for a terrorist purpose. It also accused them of taking part, along with other unknown suspects, in an assembly using violence, acquiring Molotov, as well as threatening the safety of transportation means after pouring oil on the public street.

The authorities claim that a group of protestors burnt 18 tires on the public street near Diraz roundabout and poured oil which led to blocking the street and disrupting traffic.

Since 2012, riot cases that go under the demonstrations and riot section of the penal code were adapted to apply to the terrorism law, if there were "terrorist" purposes behind them, such as attempted murder of a police officer, violating the provisions of law and endangering the lives of people and their properties, within the regime's framework of harshening penalties against protestors and activists.

Arabic Version