DUBAI: A Bahraini court sentenced 12 Shias yesterday to 10-year jail terms after convicting them of trying to kill policemen in a village near the capital, a judicial source said.
Another defendant was handed down a three-year prison sentence and four more were acquitted.
The 17 had all been charged with attempted murder of police officers, taking part in an unauthorised demonstration and possessing petrol bombs.
They were arrested after unrest on May 1, 2012 in a Shia village where a policeman suffered burned hands when his patrol was attacked. In a separate case in another Manama court yesterday, a policeman was acquitted of attempting to murder a protester because of insufficient proof, the source said. The officer, a Pakistani employed by the interior ministry, was charged after Saleh Abbas, a Shia, was shot dead during a demonstration in Shakura village on April 19 last year.
Two ex-Gitmo suspects held
DUBAI: Bahraini authorities have arrested two Gulf citizens who were former Guantanamo detainees on suspicion of preparing a “terrorist act”, state media reported yesterday.
A police chief, quoted by official news agency BNA, said the two suspects, whose names and nationalities were not disclosed, had entered Bahrain with fake passports from Saudi Arabia.
The two ex-detainees of the US detention centre for terror suspects in Guantanamo were found in possession of a large amount of money after crossing from the King Fahd Bridge linking the two Gulf states, he said.
“They are suspected of wanting to carry out a terrorist act, posing a threat to the security of the kingdom of Bahrain,” he said, adding the two would be referred to the courts. BNA noted the arrests came days before a meeting in Manama of interior ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Two shot dead at wedding dance
SANA’A: A Yemeni wedding ended in disaster after a guest firing celebratory shots in the air with his AK-47 accidentally killed two men while they were dancing to pop hit “Gangnam Style”, according to a police source and a video posted online.
The police source said the guest at the wedding in the southern city of Taiz lost control of his rifle, leading to the deaths. Two other people were being treated in hospital. A video circulating on the web purportedly shows the incident, which happened late last week. Its authenticity could not be immediately verified. The footage shows a man shooting a gun in the air and then starting to dance with several other guests to the hit song.agencies
