LEGAL action could be taken against four Bahrainis, including two MPs, who appeared in a video with armed Syrian rebels.

Parliament second vice-chairman Shaikh Adel Al Ma'awada and Al Asala Islamic Society bloc president MP Abdulhaleem Murad were seen alongside five men holding AK-47s and a rocket launcher.

Society member Dr Faisal Al Gorair and former MP Hamad Al Mohannadi were also present and appeared in the footage, which emerged earlier this month and caused a stir on social media websites.

The group reportedly made the trip to northern Syria to hand over around BD150,000 collected in Bahrain to aid hospitals and shelters.

But Syrian lawyer Mohammed Basheer Al Sharbaji has filed a case against the Bahrainis at the Public Prosecution in Damascus accusing them of sneaking into the country illegally and helping to fund terrorism.

"The four men have confessed to numerous media outlets that they have presented financial support for terrorist operations that follow their same ideology with the aid being used to ensure that the terrorist activities of killing, destruction and abduction continue, which is considered as war crimes and as crimes against humanity," alleged Mr Al Sharbaji in a report published in Syria's Baath newspaper.

"The four have to be brought in front of judges in charge of terror law courts for questioning and interrogation."

Mr Al Sharbaji, who claimed to have evidence to back up the allegations, has reportedly demanded the men be arrested by global police organisation Interpol.

The men have to be brought either through the Interpol or in line with the Riyadh Convention that Bahrain has signed and hand them the maximum punishment for their actions towards the Syrian people," he told the newspaper.

"The immunity the two MPs have doesn't cover international crimes and this means that we have every right to ask for their arrest."

However, Mr Al Ma'awada strongly denied the allegations and told the GDN the money the group presented was to rebuild vital facilities damaged in the 17-month conflict.

He said the men did not travel to Syria to specifically meet members of the rebel army and it just happened.

mohammed@gdn.com.bh