Bahrain: 4 get jail terms for torching ATM machine

Cairo: Bahrain’s Major Court had convicted four persons on terror charges after they were found guilty of setting an ATM machine ablaze, a local newspaper has said.

The court sentenced the prime defendant to 15 years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of BD100,000, according to Akhbar Al Khaleej.

Three co-defendants were handed down 10 years, three years and six months in prison respectively.

The case dates back to last September when the defendants placed car tyres in front of the machine and doused them with petrol before torching them in the area of Al Dair. The perpetrators fled the scene.

Police investigations showed that the incident was a deliberate arson perpetrated by the prime defendant together with others.

He was also found to have been in contacts with terror leaders outside Bahrain and had received financing to carry out the attack and other destabilising acts in the kingdom.

After arrest, the prime defendant admitted to the act, obtaining funding and involvement of other collaborators.