A Bahrain court has handed out death penalties to three men for forming a terrorist group that detonated a bomb, killing three policemen.

Ali Al Singace, 20, Sami Mushaima, 41, and Abbas Al Samee'a, 25, were found guilty of running a terrorist group, premeditated murder, attempted murder and creating explosives for terror purposes, said report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

The High Criminal Court also convicted seven other men for their role in the Daih attack, which was triggered by a remote-controlled explosive device killing Emirati officer First Lieutenant Tariq Al Shehhi, 41, Yemeni Ammar Abdu Ali Al Dhalei, 35, and Pakistani Mohammed Arslan Ramzan, 22 on March 3 last year.

The seven Bahrainis were jailed for life, following an eight-month trial, for joining the terror cell, premeditated murder and attempted murder.

Judges also revoked the citizenships of eight of the defendants, including Mr Mushaima, Mr Al Samee'a and Mr Al Singace, who was tried in absentia.

“Three defendants were sentenced to death, the maximum punishment, as a deterrent to others,” read court verdict document.

“They committed the terrorist act due to their devilish thoughts and they took the lives of their victims, three policemen, who are martyrs and injured seven others.

“The defendants were found guilty of the charges due to their confessions and prosecution evidence.”

According to the 109-page document, Mr Al Singace and Ahmed Jaffar Ali - founding members of the so-called Saraya Al Ashtar (Ashtar Brigade) - formed the terror cell and recruited others to carry out attacks against police.

“The defendants established the terrorist group and their co-defendants joined the illicit group,” it read.

“They funded another man (Al Samee'a) to carry out the terrorist attack, which resulted in the death of three policemen.

“Four of the men carried out surveillance of policemen at the location before the attack, while two of them prepared the explosive device which was connected to a mobile phone and an electrical circuit.

“They then gave it to one of their co-defendants to use in the attack.

“Mushaima carried out surveillance of two other bombs, which did not detonate because they were damaged in the explosion.”

The court yesterday ruled that DNA and forensic evidence found at the scene of the blast tied the defendants to the crime.

“Fingerprints of one of the defendants were found on a mobile phone connected to an explosive device that was defused,” read court documents.

“In addition, a mobile phone belonging to one of the defendants showed recordings of communication between members of the terrorist cell on observing officers and planning out their crimes on the day of the attack.

“Four of the defendants were taken to the crime scene where they acted out the attack.”

Plan

Prosecutors said the defendants planned to detonate the explosives during a funeral procession, where they intended to lure policemen to the village.

“The defendants failed to meet their deadline of detonating explosives during the first day of the funeral procession and postponed their plot,” read case files.

“The night before the terrorist attack they did a rehearsal on how to detonate the homemade explosives by calling the mobile phone connected to the bombs.”

The GDN earlier reported that the defendants made 10 homemade explosives, and planted three near a mall in Daih to 'kill as many policemen as possible'.

Mushaima was paid BD1,400 ($3,691) and instructed to buy bomb-making materials, make the explosive, observe policemen and co-ordinate the operation using a walkie-talkie.

Described as the mastermind of the operation, Al Samee'a, who was a teacher in a private school, was said to have been lying in wait on top of a building to trigger the fatal blast.

The explosion in Daih was the deadliest attack on security forces in Bahrain since anti-government radicals began a violent campaign against police following the unrest in 2011.

In addition to the three officers killed in the blast, seven other people were injured - including a GDN photographer.

The men who were jailed for life yesterday were Ahmed Jaffar Ali, Taher Ahmed Al Samee'a, Ali Jameel Al Samee'a, Hussein Rashid Khalil, Redha Mushaima, Hassan Abulhussein and Ahmed Ebrahim.

The defendants who had their citizenships revoked were Ali, Singace, Hussein Rashid Khalil, the three members of the Samee'a family and the two members of the Mushaima family.

The court also fined the defendants a combined total of BD929 - the cost of a power generator that was damaged in the blast.

Defence lawyers said they will lodge appeals against the convictions at the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court. - TradeArabia News Service