Manama- An appeals court in Bahrain has upheld the life sentences as well as the citizenship revocation of five activists over allegations of spying for the Iranian National Guard and planning attacks in the country by training people to use weapons and explosives to destabilize the security of the Bahraini society.

Chief of the Terror Crime Prosecution, Advocate General Ahmed Al Hammadi said the High Court of Appeal explained that the High Criminal Court on November 5, 2015 sentenced five suspects to life in prison, ordered the confiscation of the seized items and ruled the revocation of their citizenship.

The convicts were accused of intelligence for a foreign country and other parties working for it in order to carry out terror acts in Bahrain targeting public and financial institutions.

Two of them had received training in Iran on “the manufacture and use of explosives and firearms in preparation for carrying out these hostile attacks”, according to the charges.

The other convicts participated in the crime by sending the first two convicts to Iran, providing them with financial support and collaborating with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to complete their military training.

In a common matter, the National Assembly approved new penalties, in its exclusive session that was held in July 2013, for those who commit or incite “terrorism,” including stripping Bahrainis of citizenship. Legislators also banned any demonstrations in the tiny kingdom’s capital, Manama.