Manama: Bahrain’s High Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld the verdicts issued by a lower court against 13 defendants.
In August, the court postponed to September 4 its ruling in the re-trial of 13 people charged with plotting to topple the regime.
The re-trial was decided by the Court of Cassation in April in the high-profile case that originally included 21 defendants, seven of whom were tried in absentia.
One defendant, Al Horr Al Sameekh, was allowed by the Cassation Court on April 30 to go home after his prison term was reduced from two years to six months.
The defendants held in prison and the seven others being tried in absentia received last year terms ranging between two years and life in prison by the National Safety Court of First Instance.
They were convicted by the National Safety Court of First Instance on charges of establishing and managing terror groups to change the state royal regime by force and to change the constitution, communicating intelligence with an overseas terrorist organisation to commit hostile acts against Bahrain as well as a number of other charges.
The court sentenced Abdul Wahab Hussain Ali Ahmad, Hassan Ali Mushaima, Abdul Hadi Abdullah Al Khawaja, Abdul Jalil Abdullah Al Singace, Mohammad Habib Al Saffaf (Al Miqdad), Saeed Mirza Ahmad, Abdul Jalil Radhi Makki and the London-based Saeed Abdul Nabi Al Shehabi who was tried in absentia, to life in prison.
It also sentenced ten defendants to 15 years in prison while two other defendants were sentenced to serve five years in jail, and another defendant to two years in jail.
The verdict was challenged by the lawyers, sparking more appeals and trial sessions.
