Bahrain sentences 3 to life in prison over ties to Iran's IRGC: What to know
The sentencing comes as Bahrain continues to crack down on individuals allegedly spying for Iran, at a time when the IRGC has resumed its strikes against US assets in the Gulf.
A court in Bahrain sentenced on Tuesday three people to life in prison in two separate espionage cases over their alleged cooperation with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, coinciding with a barrage of Iranian drones and missiles targeting the Gulf kingdom.
What happened: The Terrorism Crimes Prosecution said in a statement cited by the state-run news agency (BNA) on Tuesday that the country’s High Criminal Court handed down the sentences after the three defendants were found guilty of spying for the IRGC and working on its behalf to support its hostile acts against Bahrain. The court also ordered the confiscation of seized items.
In the first case, one of the defendants was identified as a fugitive wanted by the security authorities who operated on behalf of the IRGC abroad. According to the prosecution, he recruited the second defendant, who was based in Bahrain, to relay information on vital sites inside the kingdom to target during the Iranian attacks.
The second case involves another alleged agent who had been communicating with an IRGC-operated online account. The defendant was accused of sending videos of the Iranian attacks on vital sites in Bahrain and sharing the coordinates of strategic locations to be targeted in future attacks.
In two other cases on Tuesday, the same court sentenced a total of 10 people to prison sentences of up to five years, accusing them of being involved in violent and sabotage acts during Iranian attacks on the kingdom.
Why it matters: The Sunni-led Shiite-majority kingdom has stepped up a crackdown on individuals linked to Iran since the Iran war with the United States and Israel broke out on Feb. 28, arresting and imprisoning dozens of individuals over their alleged ties to Tehran.
Iran had responded to US and Israeli strikes by launching hundreds of missile and drone attacks at US and Israeli assets in Gulf states, including in Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy’s 5th Fleet.
After a brief lull in Iranian attacks following the announcement of a memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran on June 17 to end hostilities on all fronts, the IRGC resumed its attacks in the Gulf last week in response to US strikes.
On Tuesday, the Bahraini Ministry of Defense said its air defenses intercepted “several treacherous Iranian aerial attacks” against the kingdom.
“The armed forces, with all their forces and units, are at the highest level of readiness and ready to fulfill their defense duties in order to protect the country,” the ministry said in a statement, accusing Iran of “systematic aggression” against Bahrain.
The IRGC claimed on Tuesday that its naval and aerospace forces struck the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain with missiles and drones, destroying a Patriot radar and other radar systems.
Know more: Bahrain had cut diplomatic ties with Iran in 2016 after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was ransacked and set on fire during protests against the execution of dissident Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi authorities.
During the Iran war, some Bahrainis have expressed sympathy for Iran, rooted in long-standing political grievances among the country’s Shiite majority. In 2010, authorities had led a sweeping crackdown against Shiites, arresting over 250 activists, clerics and opposition figures, whom they accused of planning to overthrow the government.
In April, the Bahraini government revoked citizenship from 69 individuals for “expressing sympathy for and glorifying Iran’s sinful hostile acts.”
None of the individuals were of Bahraini origin. According to the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy and Human Rights Watch, all were Shiite Muslims of Iranian heritage.
