Manama : The Advocate General and Head of the Terrorism Crimes Prosecution stated that the High Criminal Court held its first hearing today in the case concerning the establishment and management of a terrorist organisation formed with the aim of calling for the suspension of the provisions of the Constitution and the laws, preventing state institutions and authorities from carrying out their duties, undermining national unity, and seeking to alter the Kingdom’s constitutional system and remove its state authorities.
The organisation is alleged to have sought to promote and entrench the ideology of Wilayat al Faqih, as an extension of the Iranian Revolution, advocating complete allegiance to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran and subordination to its political authority.
According to the prosecution, this was pursued by seeking control over places of worship, maatams and Husseiniyas (community centres), exploiting them to disseminate that ideology, inciting opposition to the Kingdom’s established system of governance and calling for its overthrow, promoting ideas hostile to the state, and supporting activities intended to undermine the Kingdom’s security and stability.
The Advocate General said that the Public Prosecution had referred 19 defendants to trial in connection with the case, including 11 who are in custody and eight who remain at large. The referral followed investigations which concluded that the defendants had established the organisation to achieve the aforementioned objectives and had adopted terrorism as a means of pursuing its aims.
He added that extensive criminal, security and financial investigations revealed that the defendants had collected funds to support the organisation’s activities. Investigations also found that some of the defendants had communicated with the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with the intent of harming the Kingdom’s position and interests and seeking to change the country’s constitutional system by force and other unlawful means. This included incitement to commit terrorist acts, riots and acts of sabotage, as well as efforts to spread and consolidate the ideology of Wilayat al Faqih.
The Advocate General and Head of the Terrorism Crimes Prosecution added that the defendants were arrested and their residences searched pursuant to warrants issued by the Public Prosecution. Large sums of money were seized from some of the defendants, in addition to books, publications and documents relating to their activities within the organisation.
He noted that the Public Prosecution questioned the arrested defendants before referring them to the High Criminal Court. The court heard the case today in the presence of legal representatives for the defendants in attendance and adjourned proceedings until July 12, to allow the defence to review the case files and present their pleadings.
