Matthew Levitt and Michael Jacobson of the Washington Institute recently visited Bahrain, where the government has recently convicted five men on terrorism charges including “receiving explosives and weapons training, engaging in terrorism overseas, and terrorism financing targeting ‘friendly countries.'” They received relatively light sentences for their crimes, just six months in jail. One of the defense lawyers explained, “the six-month jail sentence is nothing, and we consider this to be an acquittal.” But this isn’t the real story. As Levitt and Jacobson report:
Lost in the coverage, however, was the important role Iran played, either explicitly or implicitly. According to Bahraini investigators, several of the cell members traveled from Bahrain to Afghanistan via Iran. First, they flew to Tehran and met up with several al-Qaeda-affiliated individuals at the airport. Al-Qaeda facilitators then passed the cell members along from “person to person” until their arrival in Afghan training camps. . . . Bahraini authorities do not know whether the Iranian government actively facilitated the cell members’ travel to Afghanistan. But given the regime’s track record, Iran’s possible involvement with the cell is worth exploring further.
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