Bahrain Mirror: (Exclusive): Bahrain's Terror Crime Prosecution referred 24 suspects accused of forming ISIS cell (Islamic State in Iraq and greater Syria) in Bahrain to trial, after convicting them over charges of seeking to execute terrorist aims and change the regime in power.

In its account on Twitter, the Public Prosecution said that it "referred 24 suspects to a special court over charges of forming a branch of a terrorist group (Known as ISIS), violating the rule of law."

The prosecution charged them with forming a terrorist group branch, leading and joining this group, possessing arms, training on the use of weapons and explosives for terrorist aims and also promoting to overthrow and change the political regime in power by force and threats.

The trial was scheduled on Thursday (December 22, 2015) before the First High Criminal Court.

The Public Attorney Ahmad Al-Hammadi, the president of the Terror Crime Prosecution, said that the investigations into the case of forming a branch of a terrorist group (known as ISIS) were concluded and 24 suspects were referred to a special court, eight of which are detained and 16 other are at large.

The Public Prosecution received a report in February 2015 from the General Directorate of the Criminal Investigations and Forensics Department, stating that the investigations revealed that the first suspect recruited the second and third suspects who joined the ranks of ISIS and also facilitated the second suspect's travel to Syria and receive military training at the hands of ISIS affiliates. He also assigned the second and third suspects to recruit more members and facilitate their travel to Syria to join the terrorist group. The second and third suspects managed to recruit a number of suspects and many of them participated in the fighting that the group was engaged in outside Bahrain. They also via social media outlets promoted for joining their terrorist group. Additional investigations revealed that a group of affiliates of the terrorist cell in Bahrain planned and prepared to execute suicide operations inside places of worship in the kingdom such as the operations that were committed in neighboring states by the terrorist organization. Eight of the suspects were taken into custody and referred to the Public Prosecution which interrogated them and ordered keeping them in pretrial detention pending investigations until the date of the aforementioned trial. The prosecution based its investigations on verbal evidence, i.e. testimonies of witnesses and confessions of some suspects, material evidence, i.e. the items that were confiscated including white arms, ammunition and books promoting extremism in addition to technical evidence.

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