A SYRIAN man, who used a forged German passport to enter Bahrain, has been given a reduced sentence by an appeals court, slashing his jail term from three years to only one year.
The Supreme Criminal Appeals Court said that the appellant ‘was just seeking to make a living’ and that the crime ‘failed in its infancy’ and therefore did not cause any damage or allow the man to profit from it.
Although the Syrian man denied charges of forgery, he did admit to buying the passport for BD750 from a man who worked near a travel agency in Riyadh, where he lived until he came to Bahrain.
In May, the 29-year-old succeeded in entering Bahrain via the King Fahad Causeway using the fake German passport, after obtaining an entry visa online.
He was caught as he attempted to board a flight to Germany. After handing his fake documents to a passport control agent at Bahrain International Airport, the system reportedly declined the passport when it was scanned.
In July, the High Criminal Court found the Syrian guilty of entering false information into a government database, with the intention of making it appear genuine.
He was also convicted with supplying his personal information to the individual who made the fake passport.
Judges sentenced him to three years in jail and ruled to deport him after completing his sentence.
“He denied the charges to get away with the crime and avoid penalty, and there is no reason to treat him with mercy,” read the verdict documents.
“This action is harmful to the public interest because it devalues official documents in the eyes of the population.”
His lawyers appealed the sentence in July, claiming that the appellant had no knowledge of the forgery and did not intend to commit a crime.
While he admitted to using the passport, the Syrian said that the person who got him the document reassured him that it was real.
An Interior Ministry forgery expert told the court that the passport was genuine, but that the information page was replaced with a fake one, while the ID card was completely manufactured.
“One cannot have a German passport if they are not citizens of Germany – certain conditions have to be met to possess a German passport, a fact that the appellant knows full well,” read the appeals verdict.
“However, as he only aimed by this action to seek a better life with more opportunities, and because the crime was nipped in the bud, the court sees it fit to grant mercy to the appellant.”
Based on this, the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court slashed the sentence from three years to one year, and upheld the deportation order.
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