Draft Law no. ( ) of On Combating Terrorism We, Hamad Ben Eissa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain Kingdom Upon reviewing the Constitution, The Penal Code issued by Decree-law no. (15) of 1976, and the amendments thereof, The Decree-law no. (16) of 1976 on Explosives, Weapons and Ammunition amended by the Decree-law no. (6) of 1996, The Decree-law no. (21) of 1996 on Environment, amended by the Decree-law no. (8) of 1997, The Decree-law no. (15) of 1998 on Ratifying the Arab Anti-Terrorism Agreement, The Decree-law no. (4) of 2001 on Banning and Countering Money Laundering, The Decree-law no. (26) of 2002 on Approving the Accession to the Convention of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) on Combating International Terrorism, The Judiciary Law issued by the Decree-law no. (42) of 2002, The Criminal Procedures Law issued by the Decree-law no. (46) of 2002, and Law no. (9) of 2004 on Approving the Accession of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the International Convention Against Terrorist Bombings, The Shura Council and the House of Representatives adopted the following Law, and We, hereby ratified and enacted it: Article (1)
The term Terrorism, for the purposes of implementing this Law, shall mean all use of force, or act of violence or threat of using violence regardless the motives and purposes thereof that the perpetrator may resort to in execution of collective or individual criminal undertaking with the aim of obstructing enforcement of the provisions of the Constitution, laws and regulations, rioting the public order, endangering the Kingdom safety and security, or impairing national unity and international community security. This is when these acts lead to harm, horrify or terrify people, endanger their lives, freedoms or security, or risk environment, pubic health, national economy, facilities, institutions, or public or private property or seizing them or impeding proper functioning thereof, or prevent or obstruct public authorities, worship houses, or academic institutions from executing their works. Article (2) Penalties stipulated in Article (3) shall be applicable to the following offences if willfully committed in execution of terrorist purpose: 1- Aggression against peoples lives, safety or freedoms 2- Imitating seals and public indications (mark), counterfeiting currency, trafficking counterfeited currency, or falsifying checks, or any other discharging instrument. 3- Acts of sabotage, damaging or blazing fire 4- Robbery or property usurpation 5- Manufacturing, importing, possessing, transporting, trafficking or using conventional and non-conventional weapons, explosives, or ammunition in violation of the Penal Code, and Law on Explosives, Weapons and Ammunition. 6- Aggression against electronic data processing systems. 7- Forgery, or use, of official or unofficial instruments (documents). 8- Money Laundering offences
9- concealing the proceeds obtained from an act of terrorism 10- Offences related to religions. Article (3) Offences stated in Article (2) herein shall receive the following penalties instead of those stipulated thereto in the other Laws, unless the present Law otherwise specifies the penalty: 1- Death penalty, if the penalty set for the crime is life imprisonment. 2- Life sentence, if the penalty set for the crime is life sentence or temporary imprisonment. 3- Imprisonment for a period not less than fifteen years, if the penalty set for the offence is imprisonment for a period not less than ten years. 4- The maximum penalty set for the offence, if such penalty is the imprisonment for a period less than ten years. 5- Double the maximum penalty set for the offence if the penalty is detention. Article (4) Life imprisonment or imprisonment for a period not less than ten years shall be the penalty inflicted on whosoever brings into the country, put in land or water, or spread in the air a substance to endanger human life and health, animals or environment in an execution of terrorist purpose. Article (5) Life imprisonment shall be the penalty inflicted on whosoever intentionally causes a disaster or damage to any means of public transportation, be it air, water or land, or defects same, break down their equipment, or endangers its safety or the safety of people on board. Life imprisonment shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever suspends, defects or breaks down institutions or facilities of air and maritime
navigation, land transportation, or communication devices or endangering the life of people on board in execution of a terrorist purpose. Same penalty shall be inflicted on whoever hijacks in execution of a terrorist purpose any of the means of transportation stated in the aforementioned paragraph or holds its passengers and or crew as hostages, or resists by force or violence the public authorities during the performance of their duties in retrieving the means of transport or the hostages from his control. Imprisonment shall be the penalty if the subject matter of the offence stipulated in the previous two paragraphs is a private means of transport. Article (6) Death penalty shall be the penalty inflicted on whosoever establishes, founds, organizes or runs, contrary to the provisions of the law, an association, corporation, organization, group or a gang the purpose of which is to call by any mean for interrupting the provisions of the constitution or laws, or preventing any of the States institutions or public authorities from exercising its works, or encroaching on the personal freedom of citizens or other freedoms and public rights as guaranteed by the constitution or law, or impairing the national unity if terrorism is one of the means used to achieve or execute the purposes called for by the association, organization, group or gang or any of its branches. Same punishment shall be inflicted on any person assuming leadership or command of any of such associations, corporations, organizations, groups or gangs, or any branches thereof. Life imprisonment or imprisonment for not less than ten year term shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever provides such association, corporation, organization, group or gang with weapons, ammunition, explosives, equipment, gear or information, manages to provide places, residences or shops for them to hide or shelter or means of living, or hides or damages objects, property or weapons that were used or prepared to be used in its activities or were the proceeds of such activities, knowingly of what it calls for and its means in achieving or executing that. Life imprisonment shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever joins any of such associations, corporations, organizations, groups or gangs or any of its branches or
any one who takes part in its activities in any form, knowingly of its terrorist purposes. Article (7) Life imprisonment shall the penalty inflicted on whoever compels a person to join any of the associations, corporations, organizations, groups or gangs stipulated in article (6) herein, or prevents a person from separation there from. Article (8) Life imprisonment or imprisonment for not less than ten year term shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever trained one or more persons on using weapons, explosives or others for the purpose of using such person in perpetrating one of the offences herein specified. Imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever received training on using weapons, explosives or others for the purpose of perpetrating any of the offences stipulated in the previous paragraph. Article (9) Life sentence shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever runs a private organization, association, corporation or institution established under the Law and made use of it in calling for committing any of the offences herein specified. Article (10) Imprisonment and/or paying a fine shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever exploits religion, worship houses, public places or religious occasions in propagating or instigating extremist thoughts, raising signs, or putting drawings, posters, images, emblems, or signals with the aim of instigating sedition and division or disdaining any of the heavenly religions or figures or sects belonging thereto, or prejudicing national unity or social peace causing disturbance of security or public order. Article (11)
Imprisonment shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever makes explosions with the aim of horrifying safe people no matter the type or the form of such explosion. Article (12) Imprisonment and paying a fine of not less than two thousand Dinars and not exceeding five thousand Dinars shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever advocates or propagates by any means whatsoever any actions that constitutes an offence in execution of a terrorist purpose. Imprisonment for not exceeding five year term shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever personally or through an intermediary holds or acquires written documents, or printed matter whatsoever comprising propagation or advocacy of any of the foregoing, if they are prepared for distribution or giving third party access thereto, and whoever holds or acquires any means of printing, recording or publicizing which is used or prepared for use even temporarily for printing, recording or broadcasting such advocacy and propagation. Article (13) Life imprisonment shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever seeks with a foreign association, corporation, organization, group or gang which exercises terrorist activities, and whose headquarters are seated abroad, or communicates with any of those working in the interest of any of them to, directly or through third party, undertake terrorist acts against the Kingdom of Bahrain, or any terrorist activity against interests of foreign country inside Bahrain, or against its properties, resources, institutions, delegations, diplomatic representatives, civil servants or citizens abroad. Death penalty shall be the penalty if the offence subject of the endeavors or communication is committed or attempted. Imprisonment for not less than ten year term and paying a fine of not less than five thousand Dinars and not exceeding the amount solicited, accepted or promised shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever solicits or accepts either for himself or for any other person, directly or through an intermediary, in any way, a grant or benefit or whoever has been promised of any of the foregoing even through
intermediary from such bodies or any one who works for their interest to execute any acts referred to in the first paragraph. Life imprisonment shall be the penalty inflicted if the felon is a civil servant or assigned for delivering a public service. Imprisonment and paying a fine of not less than one thousand Dinars and not exceeding the amount given, promised, accepted or offers shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever gives, promises, accepts, or offers any of the above for the purpose of committing any acts referred to in the first paragraph herein without acceptance of his offer. If the solicitation, acceptance, promise, offer or intermediation is in writing, the offence shall be consummated once the written document is issued. Article (14) Imprisonment for not less than five year term and not exceeding ten years shall be the penalty inflicted on each citizen who cooperates or joins any association, corporation, organization, group or gang, whatever its denomination, whose headquarters are seated abroad, and which takes terrorism or military training as a mean to achieve its purposes if its acts are not directed towards the Kingdom of Bahrain. Imprisonment for a period of not less than ten years shall be the penalty inflicted on each citizen who received military or intelligence training or any other training whatsoever or participated in its terrorist operations. Article (15) Life imprisonment or imprisonment for not less than ten year term shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever knowingly conceals, embezzles or damages objects, property, weapons or equipment used or prepared to be used in any of the offences herein specified or the proceeds of such offences. Article (16) Imprisonment for a period not less than ten years shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever assaults any one of those assigned to the execution of the provisions of this law or whoever resists such execution by force, violence or threat, while or because of performing the respective duties of their position.
Life sentence shall be the penalty inflicted if the assault of the resistance caused permanent disability, or if the felon was carrying a weapon or abducted or seized any of those assigned to the execution of the provisions of this law or his spouse, or one of ancestors, descendents, or relatives up to the fourth degree. Article (17) Imprisonment for not less than ten year term shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever knowingly enables by any means whatsoever any person who is arrested in connection with any of the offences stipulated in this law to escape. Article (18) Attempting to execute any of the offences herein stipulated shall be punished with same penalty set for the executed offence. Article (19) Whoever abets the commitment of an offence in execution of a terrorist purpose or agreed with a third party to commit it shall receive the same penalty set for the offence even if such agreement or abetment resulted in no effect. Article (20) Imprisonment and paying a fine shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever learned about offence occurrence in execution of a terrorist purpose, or of a scheme, conspiracy or acts aiming at committing such an offence and does not report it to the public authorities immediately. The provision of this Article shall not apply to the spouse of any person involved in that offence, conspiracy, scheme or acts, or to his/her ancestors and descendents. The court may acquit his/her relatives up to the fourth degree unless they are punished under another provision in the Law. Article (21) Imprisonment for not less than one year term and/or paying a fine of not less than one thousand Dinars and not exceeding five thousand Dinars shall be the penalty
inflicted on whoever reports information regarding to the occurrence of an act or offence of any of the offences herein specified knowingly that that act did not occur or that offence was not committed. Article (22) In all cases, death penalty shall be the penalty inflicted if the felons act in any of the offences herein specified caused the death of one or more persons. Article (23) Without prejudice to the responsibility of the natural person in accordance with the provisions of this Law, the judicial person shall be punished by paying a fine of not less than 100,000 Dinars and not exceeding 500,000 Dinars if any of the offences committed in execution of terrorist purpose is committed in this persons name, interest or by using one of his means due to an act, gross negligence, approval or covering up by the person running such judicial person or whoever acting in this capacity. In case of conviction, the court shall order depriving the judicial person from taking part in public projects, or closure of its premises where the offence was committed, or dissolution of such judicial person or closing down all its premises. In all cases, the court shall order the confiscation of property, objects, equipment, documents and other items that might have been used or prepared to be used in committing, or the proceeds issuing from committing, the offence. Article (24) For the cases prescribed in this law, in addition to rendering a judgment with the specified penalty, the court may render a ruling with one or more of the following measures: 1- Prohibiting residence in a certain place or zone. 2- Imposing residence in a certain place. 3- Prohibiting frequentation of specific places or locations.
In all cases, the term of any of those measures shall not exceed five years. Imprisonment for not exceeding one year term shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever violates the conditions of the measure ruled by the court. Article (25) The provisions of Articles (71) and (72) of the Penal Code shall not be applied when rendering a judgment of conviction in any of the offences herein prescribed, with the exception of the cases in which the law stipulates the death penalty or life imprisonment. Death penalty might be mitigated to life imprisonment, and the life imprisonment might be mitigated to imprisonment. Article (26) Exempted from the penalties herein referred shall be whoever of the felons took initiative to notify the public authorities before the execution of the offence begins. The court may mitigate the penalty if the notification is made after the completion of the crime and before the investigation begins, and if the felon enables the authorities during the course of investigations to arrest other perpetrators of that offence, or the perpetrators of another offence similar in type and gravity. Article (27) The court shall rule the confiscation of seized objects, funds, weapons and equipment which were used or were to be used in any of the offences subject to the provisions of this law, or which were the proceeds obtained from the offence with observance of the rights of bona fide third party. Article (28) Provisions with respect to the lapse of the legal proceeding (criminal action) and the lapse of the penalty after the elapse of the penalty according to the period stipulated under the Criminal Procedures Law or any other law shall not be applicable to the offences prescribed in this Law. Article (29)
By way of exception from the provisions stated in the Criminal Procedures Law, the General Prosecution shall during the investigation of the offences herein prescribed, in addition to the terms of references assigned thereto, have the powers of the judge of the lower court stipulated in the Criminal Procedures Law, and the powers of the higher criminal court convened in camera stated in Article (148) of same, provided that the order of detention shall be issued by the Advocate General or the Acting Advocate General for a term or for consecutive terms on the condition that the total of such terms shall not exceed ninety days. Without prejudice to the provision of paragraph (c) of Article (89) of the Constitution and provisions of Article (43) of the Judiciary Law enacted by the Decree-law no. (42) of 2002, the General Prosecution shall not, in undertaking the investigation and filing the action with respect to the offences referred to in the preceding paragraph, confine to the constraints stipulated in Article (12) of the Criminal Procedures Law. Article (30) The investigation officer may, if adequate evidences are available to substantiate the accusation of a given person of committing any of the offences herein prescribed or if that person was caught in flagrante delicto, hold the accused for a period not exceeding fourteen days, and when necessary, the investigation officer may request the permission of the General Prosecution to extend the holding term. In this case, the general prosecution may, for a matter required by the necessity of investigation and preservation of community security, grant the permission to continue holding the accused for another term of not more than fourteen days. The investigation officer shall hear the sayings of the held accused, and shall send him/her to the general prosecution subsequent to the expiry of the term referred to in the preceding paragraph. The general prosecution shall question the accused within three days as of receiving him/ her, and then order either precautionary detention or release thereof. Article (31)
Information provided by the security sources to extend the holding period specified in the first paragraph of Article (30) of this Law, shall remain confidential at the General Prosecution. It is impermissible to disclose such information or the names of persons who provided it. Article (32) The Advocate General or the Acting Advocate General may order to seize letters, of all types, publications, parcels and telegrams, monitor all means of communication, and record incidents occurring in public or private places whenever such procedures are useful in revealing the truth regarding the offences subject to the provisions of this Law. In all cases, the order of seizure, monitoring or recording shall be reasoned and for a period not exceeding ninety days. This period shall not be extended except by an order issued by the competent court. Article (33) The Advocate General or the Acting Advocate General may directly order to review or obtain any data or information related to accounts, deposits, trusts and safes at banks or other financial institutions or the relevant transaction, if this proved necessary to reveal the truth regarding the offences subject to the provisions of this law. Article (34) The Attorney General may, if evidences established the seriousness of the accusation in any of the offences herein specified, order to ban the accused from travel during the investigation, or order temporarily to ban the accused from disposing or managing the funds thereof or any other precautionary measures. The order may include banning the disposal or operation of the funds of the accuseds spouse and the minors if such property proved to be inure thereto. The order to effect the banning of management should include the assignment of a person to manage the property in custody, In all cases, the Attorney General shall submit the banning order to the higher criminal court within seven days at most as
of the date of its issuance, requesting a judgment of banning the disposal and management, otherwise the order shall be repealed. Article (35) Ministers, each in his respect, shall enforce this law. The law shall be effective as of the day following the date of its publishing in the Official Gazette.