A Bahraini who deliberately drove his GMC car into several policemen near the GCC (Pearl) Roundabout has been jailed for 15 years.

Hamad Yousef Kadhim was yesterday found guilty of the attempted murder of around 10 police officers and damaging Interior Ministry vehicles.

One of the victims was seriously injured in the attack, which happened on February 17 when anti-government protesters were first cleared from the roundabout.

Kadhim was also convicted of participating in illegal gatherings and demonstrations during the political unrest at the Lower National Safety Court and had his car permanently confiscated. He has 15 days to appeal the verdict.

The GDN was in court for the ruling, which was delivered by a military judge and two civil judges.

University student Abdulla Mohammed Habib was jailed for seven years by the same court last week after he ploughed his car into a police checkpoint at high speed.

He was given five years for trying to kill policemen and handed another two years for being convicted of vandalism.

Prosecutors said Habib had vandalised public property during illegal gatherings at the roundabout.

The court heard that Habib had tried to kill four police officers stationed at a checkpoint in Manama on March 27.

He is said to have driven into the checkpoint at more than 100kmph with what prosecutors described as 'terrorist intentions'.

The court heard that he had previously conducted surveillance of the police roadblock, which was located on the route he regularly used to reach university.

Another Bahraini also standing trial for attempted murder in a similar case was acquitted last week, after it emerged he only crashed into a checkpoint because he was talking on the phone.

Bahraini Sulaiman Yahya Hamza had also been charged with the attempted murder of policemen in Tubli on April 5, but was cleared by the same court.

The court ordered he be immediately released from prison, unless he was wanted in connection with another case.

Ali Abdullah Hassan Al Singees, Qassim Hassan Mattar Ahmad, Saeed Abduljalil Saeed and Abdulaziz Abdulredha Ibrahim Hussain were given the death penalty and Isa Abdulla Kadhem Ali, Sayyed Sadiq Ali Mahdi and Hussain Jaffar Abdulkareem were jailed for life for their role in the deaths.

The defendants were sentenced in connection with the deaths of Kashef Ahmed Mandhoor and Mohammed Farooq Abdulsamad Al Balooshi, who were killed during an operation to evict protesters from the roundabout on March 16.

Both officers were deliberately run over by protesters.

However, it is understood all seven have lodged an appeal against the decision.-TradeArabia News Service