DUBAI: A Bahraini court sentenced nine Shias to jail terms ranging between 10 and 15 years yesterday after convicting them of forming a “terrorist” group, a judicial source said.
Cleric Ahmed Al Majed and a second defendant were jailed for 15 years, while a third defendant was sentenced to 10 years.
The three were the only defendants to appear in court, as the other six remain at large and were sentenced in absentia to 10 years, the source said.
The first two were convicted of “forming an illegal group that aimed to jeopardise the rule of law and obstruct state institutions from performing their duties… through using terrorism,” the source said, quoting the list of charges.
The other seven defendants were accused of joining the group despite knowing of its “terrorist objectives”.
All defendants were convicted for “possessing explosives”, the source added.
Tunisia says terror cell dismantled
TUNIS: A “terrorist cell” preparing to launch attacks against Tunisian police and army has been dismantled in the central region of Kairouan, the interior ministry said yesterday.
“A terrorist cell was dismantled in Haffouz and a 23-year-old who planned to attack the police and army has been arrested,” ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Aroui told reporters. He said the arrest was made on May 16, adding that two suspects had managed to flee.
Aroui showed pictures of three pistols, ammunition and electronic gadgets used to manufacture bombs which were seized during the operation. Tunisia is facing an increase in extremist Islamism since the 2011 revolution that ousted Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Israel cancels Unesco Jerusalem tour
JERUSALEM: Israel said yesterday it had cancelled a visit by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) to Jerusalem’s Old City, saying the Palestinians had sought to politicise a conservation mission.
No one was immediately available for comment at Unesco’s Paris headquarters. A month ago, it announced it would send experts to Jerusalem in mid-May to examine the state of conservation of the walled Old City, a World Heritage site.
The future of the Old City, in a part of Jerusalem that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move that is not recognised internationally, is a highly sensitive issue at the heart of the Middle East conflict.
Saudi beheads Syrian for drug trafficking
RIYADH: Saudi authorities beheaded a Syrian man yesterday after convicting him of drug trafficking, the interior ministry said.
Mohammed Yousuf Ezzeddine was executed in the northern city of Qurayat, near the borders with Jordan, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.
His beheading brings to 41 the number of people executed in Saudi Arabia since the start of 2013. In 2012, the kingdom executed 76 people, according to a count based on official figures. Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia’s strict version of Shariah.
Agencies
