Manama: A Bahraini court on Thursday acquitted a man who was detained on the charge of “starting to kill a number of security men with a terrorist intent”.
The national safety court of first instance found that Sulaiman Yahya Hamza was not guilty. He was the first detainee found innocent in the trial of several people on charge of being involved in acts of terror and in some cases of murdering policemen.
The court, however, sentenced Abdullah Mohammad Habib to five years for “starting to kill a number of security men with a terrorist intent” and to two years for “squandering public funds.”
The verdicts of the court are not final and can be appealed at the Court of Appeals with 15 days.
Last week, the national safety court of first instance sentenced four Bahrainis to death and three to life imprisonment for their alleged role in the killing of two security men. The defendants appealed the verdicts.
Under the State of National Safety, emergency laws declared by King Hamad on March 15, two courts, the national safety court of first instance and the court of appeals, oversee legal cases.
