Qatar intelligence case adjourned to September 26

The High Court of Appeals today adjourned to September 26 the case of Ali Salman Ali Ahmed, Hassan Ali Jumaa Sultan and Ali Mehdi Ali Al Aswad accused of intelligence with Qatar, Advocate General Osama Al Oufi said.
The three were acquitted by the High Criminal Court in June, prompting the prosecution to appeal the verdict.
The prosecution had referred the defendants to the court for trial on charges of establishing intelligence links with a foreign country to carry out hostile acts against Bahrain and undermining the Kingdom’s political and economic status as well as its national interest.
The suspects were also charged with passing defence secrets to a foreign country, accepting money from a foreign country in consideration for providing it with military secrets and information about the internal situation of the country, spreading tendentious rumours and fallacies abroad to weaken the financial confidence in the Kingdom and undermine its prestige.

Today, the court heard the appeal case in an open public session according to the law. The first defendant attended the trial accompanied by his lawyers whereas the second and third defendants did not attend.

The Public Prosecution presented during the session a statement in which it expressed its reasons for challenging the first instance court ruling.
The Prosecution statement included the legal errors committed by the first ruling and aspects of its breach of credible legal texts and judicial principles as well as the verdict’s shortcomings and its defective causation besides its neglect of evidences and disregarding some of them without reasonable justification.
The prosecution said in its submitted Memorandum of Objection that the first instance court ruling was erroneous in its construction of the law and shortcoming in its causation and corrupted evidencing.

The court decided to consider the appeal on September 26 upon the request of the defence lawyers of first defendant Ali Salman permitting him to obtain a copy of the minutes of the session and a copy of the appealed ruling and the prosecution petition as well as to notify the second and third defendants.