The Lower National Safety Court, the Criminal Department, has adjourned to May 31, 2011 the trial of 31 suspects charged with holding weapons to loot money, setting fire to private farms and endangering people’s life and stealing and possessing Molotov cocktails.
The court adjourned to the same date the case of 16 suspects accused of attempted murder of a person while driving his car on a public road, damaging a private car and using violence with police officers
The decision has been made to enable the defendants to appoint their lawyers and meet families.
The Misdemeanour Department sentenced to one year in prison Fadhel Abbas Ahmed, Salman Abbas Ahmed, Nasser Houd Ibrahim, Ali Mohammed Abdullah, Mohammed Adel Ahmed, Yousef Abdullah Ali and Jafar Mehdi Hassan for gathering in a public place with the intention to commit crimes and disrupt public order.
Abdessalam Mohammed Jassim was handed two years in jail for gathering in a public place with the intention to commit crimes and disrupt public order.
Ali Khalifa Hassan was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of gathering in a public place to commit crimes and disrupt public order and possessing a leaflet inciting to overthrow the political system.
Ali Abdullah Youssef and Mohammed Hussain Suleiman have been acquitted of the charges leveled against them.
The court adjourned some other cases to enable the suspects to appoint their lawyers.
The court hearing was attended by the Gulf-European Centre for Human Rights representative Salman Nasser, Bahrain Human Rights Watch representative Attiyatallah Rouhani and the defendants’ family members.