A NUMBER of ‘foreigners’ were paid to “tarnish Bahrain’s reputation” at international human rights meetings, including some organised by the UN, it has been claimed.
Officials from Iran and Lebanon paid Europeans, besides an American woman, to speak against Bahrain, according to court documents, exclusively obtained by the GDN, in the case of 18 people accused of conspiring with a foreign state.
The defendants, who allegedly joined Al Basta terror group and were part of the outlawed Al Wafa Islamic Movement, are on trial at the High Criminal Court.
One of the defendants, a Bahraini businessman, said Al Basta group members met Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and top Iranian officials who paid them “salaries” to tarnish Bahrain’s image abroad and carry out terrorist attacks in the country to “destabilise the region”.
“Nasrallah gave us $20,000 a month and told us to provide him with detailed information about Bahrain, following a two-hour meeting with him in Lebanon,” he told prosecutors.
“I also met foreign ministry officials in Iran and Lebanon who paid us to take part in human rights meetings organised by the UN.
“They would pay us $20,000 every month to take part in these conferences, the total payment amounting to $150,000.
“We travelled to Tunis and Iran before going to Geneva and I was paid to take part in a conference organised by the UN in Switzerland in 2012.
“I returned to Iran and briefed officials there about what had happened at the conference.”
The accused said a co-defendant, who is one of the masterminds of Al Wafa Islamic Movement, had helped him in giving funds to the “foreigners”, including an American woman.
“He (co-defendant) told me to visit Iran a second time, which I did in 2013, after he was instructed by his Iranian counterparts.
“I was asked to gather people to join a conference which was held to talk against the Bahraini government.
“We were also given 100 francs daily as pocket money and all our expenses were paid including travel tickets, hotel and transportation.
“We also took part in another conference held in Dublin, Ireland, against the Bahraini regime and I was given 15,000 euros.”
The businessman revealed how the money from abroad was used to hire a UN hall in Switzerland for a conference against Bahrain.
“In March 2014, I returned to Bahrain to collect and send information to foreign countries and set up the Basta Group on the BlackBerry service.
“My monthly salary was BD1,000 in addition to BD500 I received from a laundry my family owned.”
He said the group also met former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s grandson Hassan Khomeini.
The GDN previously reported that two brothers, whose father died in police custody during the unrest in 2011, were named as the alleged masterminds of the terror cell, Al Basta.
Two of the defendants are Iranian nationals, including one who worked as a political attaché in the Iranian Embassy in Manama, while the rest are Bahrainis.
A 35-year-old police lieutenant previously said in court that the attaché, who was deported in 2011, was tasked with passing on messages to political societies and individuals in Bahrain from their Iranian counterparts.
The defendants will appear in court for their next hearing on December 8, when prosecution witnesses will be cross-examined.
noorz@gdn.com.bh
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