A Bahraini court Sunday jailed six people for 15 years for plotting attacks in the country with suspected Iranian agents, including an attempt to blow up the causeway with Saudi Arabia. Two others received lesser sentences and were freed because they had already spent six months in detention. The six men arrested in November are part of a group of eight, including two who remain at large. Four were arrested in Qatar in possession of documents and a computer containing information about vital installations in Bahrain, in addition to flight tickets to Syria and cash in US dollars. The interior ministry had said that the eight formed a “terrorist cell” which plotted to attack important figures and vital installations, including the causeway linking Bahrain with Saudi Arabia. Also among the alleged targets were the interior ministry itself and the Saudi embassy. Bahraini prosecutors repeatedly say that Iran encourages and assists the protests. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have issued strongly worded statements demanding Iran stop “meddling” in their affairs. Bahrain also plans to remove its broadcasts from Arabsat, a regional television service, on June 1 to protest a “hostile media campaign” by Iranian channels against Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
