Manama: A Bahraini court yesterday sentenced nine defendants to 15 years in prison for kidnapping a policeman.

The National Safety Court of First Instance said that the policeman, Mohammad Nayef Falah, was blindfolded and taken to the house of one of the defendants where he was illegally detained.

The court acquitted three defendants, including a woman, and transferred the case filed against another defendant to a civil court. In a separate case, the court sentenced four defendants to 10 years for assaulting and abducting a policeman.

The court said that the policeman, Saif Allah Mohammad Ebrahim, was forcibly taken to the former Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Roundabout, popularly known as the Pearl Roundabout, after the six-sword monument was brought down in March.

The court said that the policeman was presented to the crowd gathered at the roundabout before he was taken to the Salmaniya Medical Complex where he was held.

Three others arrested in connection with the case were freed by the court.

Rebellion

In the third case, the court sentenced six defendants to up to 10 years imprisonment on charges that included inciting rebellion through the use of force, promoting illegal rallies, resisting the authorities, civil disobedience, going on strike and disseminating false information to undermine the regime.

Nine other defendants were acquitted in the case.

Under Bahrain's laws, the lower court's decision can be appealed in the Court of Appeals and in the Court of Cassation.

The sentencing of the defendants occurred a day after the lower courts handed down its decision in three different cases related to the unrest that hit the country in February and March.

Another case

A  Bahraini court on Tuesday sentenced 14 defendants to prison terms ranging between five and 10 years on charges of plotting to topple the regime and to forcibly change the political system.

Hadi Mohammad Al Mudarrasi, Ali Ahmad Kadhem Mahfoodh, Abdullah Ebrahim Ahmad Saleh, Sayyed Mahdi Hadi Ridha Ebrahim, Jasem Ali Mohammed Yusuf Al Demistani and Talal Abdul Hameed Mohammad Al Jamri were sentenced to ten years in prison.

Yasser Abdullah Ebrahim Saleh, Mohammad Ebrahim Husain, Ali Mashallah Ali, Jaafar Abdullah Hassan Ali, Edriss Abdulhussain Habib, Habib Abdullah Hassan Al Jamri, Abdul Adheem Ghuloom Abbas Darweesh and Mohammad Ali Ali Abdullah were handed five years in prison.

The National Safety Court of First Instance acquitted nine defendants in the case.
In a statement following the verdicts, Al Wefaq and the Islamic Action Society “Amal” whose leader Ali Mahfoodh was sentenced to ten years called for the release of all the defendants.

Al Wefaq also contested a decision by the interior ministry not to allow its supporters to form a protest human chain around its office near Adhari Park on the grounds that it could be a threat to social peace.