Bahrain jails three for life over links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards

Bahrain’s High Criminal Court has sentenced three people to life imprisonment in two separate cases involving alleged links to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The Bahrain News Agency quoted the head of the Terror Crimes Prosecution as saying that two defendants were convicted of communicating with the Iran's IRGC with the aim of carrying out hostile and terrorist acts against Bahrain.

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The court sentenced both men to life imprisonment, fined them 10,000 Bahraini dinars ($26,500) each and ordered the confiscation of seized items.

Authorities said investigations found that Iranian intelligence services and the Revolutionary Guards had tasked members of groups based in Iran with monitoring vital facilities in Bahrain in preparation for attacks aimed at destabilising the kingdom.

According to prosecutors, the first defendant, who had escaped to Iran, recruited the second defendant inside Bahrain to support terrorist operations, transfer funds to extremist elements and gather information on strategic facilities allegedly passed to Iranian authorities.

In a separate case, the court sentenced a woman to life imprisonment after convicting her of seeking and communicating with the Revolutionary Guards to carry out hostile acts against Bahrain.

Prosecutors said she used a social media account to publish images and coordinates of sensitive sites and vital facilities in Bahrain, alongside content praising what authorities described as the Iranian aggression against the kingdom.

The public prosecution said crimes threatening Bahrain’s national security and sovereignty were among the gravest offences under the law and could carry penalties up to capital punishment.