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Wednesday, December 30, 2009     GET REAL

Bahrain prosecutors: Al Qaida targeted U.S. Navy

ABU DHABI Ñ Bahrain is prosecuting two men accused of planning to attack ships of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, based in the Persian Gulf kingdom.   

The two defendants, one of them a 21-year-old customs officers, have confessed to purchasing weapons for what the prosecution said marked a plot to attack the U.S. military presence in Bahrain.

"He confessed during interrogation that the weapons were purchased for one purpose, and that was to protect his country from Iranian threat," said defense attorney Abdullah Hashim, who represents the second defendant, an unemployed 22-year-old. "The weapons were not going to be used for an attack on U.S. Navy ships, which is what investigators claimed."


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Details of the charges against the two Bahrainis were provided during a hearing by the Supreme Criminal Court in Manama on Dec. 21. The defense has claimed that the two machine guns, pistol, knives and swords were purchased to protect Bahrain from an attack by neighboring Iran.

The prosecution has indicated that the two defendants were directed by Al Qaida to attack the U.S. Navy in Bahrain. The two were said to have been trained by Al Qaida-aligned instructors in Jordan and later awaited orders to attack U.S. warships and sailors at the port of Mina Salman.

Security forces also seized photographs of what the prosecution said were targets selected by the two defendants. They included photographs of the U.S. embassy in Manama, U.S. naval facilities and residential towers. Several books on how to build rockets were also seized from the apartments of the defendants.

"This situation is different from terror acts carried out by Al Qaida because the defendants purchased small weaponry by saving up their monthly salaries," defense attorney Farid Ghazi, who represents the customs officer, said.

"In other terror plots, such as the Sept. 11, [2009] attack on the Twin Towers, the terror cell used massive weaponry and completely funded their members. The most important thing is that the case files lack any solid evidence that the men were in contact with members of terror organizations."

The defense also agreed with the prosecution's assertion that the defendants used their weapons in Bahrain. Defense attorneys, however, said their clients had been simply testing their newly-bought firearms.

"Yes, the weapons exist and they were purchased, but not to carry out terror attacks," Ghazi said.



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