Manama: Bahrain’s public prosecution said that 32 people would be put on trial on October 18 on charges of arson, rioting and possessing Molotov cocktails.
The defendants, 15 of whom are still at large, were referred to the court following an investigation into an attack on the police station in Sitra, a coastal town five kilometres south of the capital Manama, said Mohammad Al Dossary, the public prosecutor.
“We have been informed by the police that more than 100 people broke the law and caused riots by hurling Molotov cocktails, stones and iron rods at the police station on August 25 with the purpose of burning it and targeting the policemen inside,” he said in a statement. “One policeman was injured and the station was damaged in the attack.”
The attackers were identified following an investigation by authorities, he said. “They were arrested and their houses were searched. Explosives and knives were discovered in some of the suspects’ homes. They admitted the charges.”
The prosecution said that it built the cases on the testimonies by the investigators and the witnesses, the defendants’ admissions and technical reports. Some of the suspects reportedly have a record of similar offences, he said.
On Sunday, the Court of Appeals acquitted three men and reduced the jail terms of 14 others in the case of a farm storming.
They were among 26 Bahrainis sentenced by the National Safety Court to 15 years in prison on charges of arson, damaging private property, making and possessing Molotov cocktails and taking part in an illegal gathering.
However, only 18 men filed an appeal at the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court against their 15-year sentence. Six men, including three handball players, had their jail term slashed to 12 months.
The sentences of two men were slashed from 15 to seven while three others had their jail term reduced to three years and two men to two years. The sentence of one man was upheld and a prisoner will know his fate on November 7 when his lawyers submit their final appeal arguments.
