Manama: Five defendants accused of child abuse will stand trial on October 24 in Bahrain, the public prosecution advocate general has said.
The defendants will face charges of sexual assault against children, forcing children by threats and blackmail to commit obscene acts, inciting acts of prostitution, relying in part on income derived from prostitution, publishing and circulating audiovisual recordings of children promoting moral deviation, luring and abusing children through the internet to commit immoral acts, and sexually molesting children in violation of the Penal Code and the Child Protection Act, Ahmad Al Dossary said.
The child abuse case was brought to the attention of the Public Prosecution by the Directorate General of Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security, he said in a statement carried by Bahrain News Agency (BNA).
“The directorate received information from a foreign organisation specialised in dangerous organised crimes, stating that unknown persons in the Kingdom of Bahrain were luring children through social websites to engage in sexual acts over the internet, and then using coercion and blackmail to force child victims to engage in those illicit practices,” the statement said.
“Investigations uncovered the identities of the accused persons who engaged in blackmailing children through the internet to satisfy their sexual desires. The accused were arrested and their homes were searched in execution of search warrants issued by the Public Prosecution. Computers and mobile phones used in the commissioning of the crime were found in their possession.”
The Attorney- General added that investigations revealed that the accused targeted children below the age of 14, luring them through websites under assumed names and using photographs of girls claiming they wanted to know them. “They would then take pornographic photographs of the victims, and force them to commit acts to satisfy their deviant desires by threatening to publish the photographs taken of them performing the immoral acts and to expose them to their families.”
The Public Prosecution relied on verbal and technical evidence to order the trial of the defendants, he said, adding that the evidence was obtained and the perpetrators were identified through international cooperation with the countries concerned.
The Attorney-General issued a decision during the course of the investigation prohibiting the publication of any details or information on the case for the purpose of protecting the victims and their reputations, and to avoid adverse effects on the outcome of investigations.
“For the same purpose, the Public Prosecution petitioned the court to keep the ban on publishing details of the case and to have the case heard in secret,” the statement said.
