Bahrain Mirror: The Supreme Court of Appeals presided over by judge Mohammad bin Ali Al Khalifa and Naji Abdullah as secretariat commuted the 10-year jail term issued against former Interior Ministry colonel Adel Flaifel to 3 years and commuted the 3-year jail term issued against 6 others to one year only. It is to mention that Flaifel is sentenced over possession of arms and ammunitions without a licence from the ministry of interior.

The Third High Criminal Court had sentenced Flaifel to 10 years in prison after convicting him of possession of various arms and ammunition without permits, and also fined him 500 BD. The criminal court also sentenced 7 others in the same case to 3 years in prison on the same charges with a 500 BD fine each and ordered the confiscation of the seized weapons.

The first lieutenant revealed that Flaifel acquired arms and ammunitions without a license and distributed them among the other suspects to protect him. Thus, a search warrant was issued by the prosecution to search him domicile. Searching the eight's suspect house, they found various arms and live ammunitions. Investigations showed that the eighth defendant received arms from Flaifel, kept him in his house and then returned them to Flaifel. Confronting Colonel Adel, he confessed that he owned the seized arms and ammunitions without a license from the ministry of interior and that he distributed them among the suspects except the eight one. After interrogating the second to the seventh defendant, they confessed that they acquired arms without a license. Meanwhile, the eighth defendant said that he transferred some weapons (20 different arms) from Flaifel's home to his and returned them after a while. It was noted that all the weapons are illegal to acquire without a license from the interior ministry. The interrogations showed that the eighth defendant worked for Flaifel for a 1200 BD monthly salary and the remaining defendants for 450 BD.

Attorney-General Ali Bin Fadhul Al-Buainain announced on November 12, 2014 that the prosecution has commenced its investigations. Meanwhile, the investigations of the Department of Criminal Investigations concluded that a person unlawfully imported arms and it issued a warrant to search the suspect's residence and him as well. After searching his home, they found a number of firearms and ammunitions.

The prosecution questioned Flaifel who confessed committing the crime and acquiring the seized arms and ammunitions and ordered to remand him pending investigation, after charging him with importing and acquiring arms and ammunitions without a license.   

The case's documents showed that Adel Flaifel is the owner of arms and ammunitions and that all the suspects worked for him as bodyguards and one of them worked as a driver. Meanwhile, one of the suspects affirmed that he worked for the Flaifel because he needed money and that he received a weapon from the colonel being his bodyguard. The colonel confirmed to the bodyguard that the weapon is licensed, when asked. However, the suspect added that he did not know that it was unlicensed.

Arabic Version