Intelligence case suspect remanded in custody

Advocate-General, Chancellor Ahmed Al-Hammadi said that suspect Ali Salman had been summoned today and questioned over charges of exchanging intelligence information with a foreign country and with those serving its interests to carry out hostile acts against Bahrain, as well as to harm its military, political and economic standing and undermine its national interests.
The suspect was also quizzed about delivering and divulging defence secrets to a foreign country, disseminating tendentious news and statements about the internal situation in Bahrain for the sake of undermining its prestige and status.

The Public Prosecution remanded him in custody pending further investigation into the case, and the sentence will be served after he completes his current jail term in the case in which he was convicted.

The Advocate-General asserted that the Public Prosecution had carried out investigations into the telephone conversations held between both Ali Salman and Hassan Sultan with Qatari officials, and the agreement and coordination between the two sides to carry out hostile acts in Bahrain to damage its military, political, economic and national interests, as well as to undermine its prestige and status abroad.

Investigations revealed the validity of those events and proved that Qatar had engaged in activities targeting many Arab countries, particularly Bahrain, Al-Hammadi said, explaining that Doha had, since 2010, mobilised its media to attack the ruling regime in Bahrain and contacted some elements, including Ali Salman and others, for this purpose.

The Advocate-General asserted that the two sides had held direct meetings in Bahrain and abroad, and with those working for the interests of Qatar in Hizbollah, exchanged messages and held telephone conversations that had been monitored in accordance with legal procedures.

The contacts and meetings, Al-Hammadi explained, had shown the two sides’ shared a willingness to carry out hostile acts in Bahrain and harm its standing through exchanging information about the movement of the military forces entrusted with maintaining security and stability during the 2011 crisis in Bahrain, and discussed hostile acts that could be conducted to face military actions.

The contacts had also revealed Qatar’s attempts to weaken the military actions through refraining from participating in them, and directing its media outlets to support the events unfolding in Bahrain.
The suspects appeared in the Qatari media and disseminated information and news aimed at damaging Bahrain’s military, political and economic status and undermining its prestige and respect abroad.

In addition to exchanging intelligence with the Qatari side, the suspects carried out hostile acts through calling for resisting and confronting the authorities using force and violence and through terrorist crimes, Al-Hammadi added.

He affirmed that the reports had proved the responsibility of the suspects in acts of violence and terrorism, as well as in funding terrorists to carry out hostile acts, adding that the defendants had received financial support from Qatar to carry out their activities aimed at harming the status and interests of the kingdom.

Reports also showed that Ali Salman had tasked one of the suspects to carry out acts that would damage the country’s standing and national interests and appointed another as a communication officer with Qatar, he added.

Numerous events, meetings, statements and interviews conducted with the suspects on the Qatari media channels were monitored, the Advocate-General said, noting that they revealed that the two sides had agreed that the suspects would transfer top secret information to the Qatari side to serve its plots against the regime by spreading chaos and instability and causing continuous internal unrest to overthrow it. This was proved by the investigation officer and two evidence witnesses under the witness protection law.

The Advocate-General said Ali Salman was quizzed today in the presence of his lawyer, and was presented with evidence documents of the charges levelled against him.

Source: BNA