TWO bombers sentenced to death for killing a policeman have run out of appeals after Bahrain’s highest court upheld the original ruling following a retrial.
Mohammed Ramadan Hussein, a former airport security officer, and Hussein Moussa Mohammed, a former hotel employee, were convicted of a bombing in Dair on February 14, 2014 in which policeman Abdulwaheed Al Balooshi was killed and five others injured.
The defendants were among 12 Bahrainis found guilty of premeditated murder, attempted murder, possessing and detonating an explosive device, taking part in an illegal gathering and possessing Molotov cocktails.
The High Criminal Court sentenced the two to death in December 2014.
According to original case files, Mr Hussein was said to have supplied the bomb used in the explosion, while Mr Mohammed was accused of remotely detonating it near a cold store in Dair.
Mr Al Balooshi’s bloodstains on the police vehicle
An illegal rally had been organised to lure officers to the location.
The High Criminal Court ruling was upheld by the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court in May 2015.
In October last year, the Cassation Court ordered a retrial based on new evidence that came to light during a review of the case by the Interior Ministry’s Ombudsman Office – which was set up to ensure police adhere to professional standards.
However, the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court upheld the death penalty on January 8 this year.
The Cassation Court upheld the death sentences yesterday.
“The defendants were found guilty of the charges due to sufficient evidence against them,” read yesterday’s ruling.
“They stood a retrial but new evidence submitted was not sufficient to find them not guilty of the charges.
“The Supreme Criminal Appeals Court handed them the death penalty and the Cassation Court upheld the initial ruling.
“Their retrial was carried out because of new legal evidence and throughout the trial 15 judges viewed the case.”
The Ombudsman Office alerted the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), which conducted its own probe and proposed a retrial.
The decision was based on Interior Ministry’s medical documents of one of the defendants, which were not disclosed during the original trial.
While the two defendants were sentenced to death, another was handed a life sentence and nine were jailed for six years and fined BD1,000 each.
All of them lost their appeals at both the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court and the Cassation Court.
Most of the defendants were previously wanted by the police in connection with terrorism cases, for which they received jail sentences of up to 15 years.
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