A MAN who had rented an apartment allegedly used by members of a major terrorist group as a weapons depot never lived in the facility, the court heard.
The 36-year-old defendant is among 22 people on trial for allegedly being part of a major terrorist cell that smuggled explosives into the country in an attempt to target key establishments.
The Bahraini defendants, aged between 19 and 54, have been accused of storing weapons in the apartment and plotting terror attacks between 2019 and 2021.
Lawyer Reem Khalaf, representing the 36-year-old, said her client had rented the apartment for a year from 2017 to 2018, but did not use it owing to the lack of an elevator at the facility.
“My client’s wife was pregnant at the time and hence he did not move into the apartment,” Ms Khalaf told the court while submitting her final arguments in the case.
“He gave up the apartment after 12 months and is not responsible for what happened there after that period,” she claimed.
The trial has been adjourned until Tuesday for review.
The cell was set up in 2019 by Alsayed Murtadha Al Sindi, who was branded a global terrorist by the US in 2017. The convict, said to be one of the leaders of the terrorist group Saraya Al Ashtar, is currently at large and believed to be living in Iran. He is among eight masterminds in the case who are now standing trial in absentia.
However, 13 of the defendants who are in custody appeared at the High Criminal Court, where they denied being part of the illicit group and possessing weapons and explosives. According to court documents, the defendants travelled abroad and received militia training in camps belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and in Iraq in 2019.
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