RIYADH: Four Saudi men have been sentenced to death for their role in one of the kingdom’s “bloodiest terror cells”, official SPA news agency has reported. The agency said that a special criminal court in Riyadh jailed “as many as 20” others for between two and 23 years for a variety of crimes.
These included embracing “deviant” thinking contrary to the Holy Quran, a term usually used in Saudi Arabia to refer to Al Qaeda suspects. The defendants were also convicted of fighting abroad and purchasing five tonnes of aluminium nitrate — which can be used to make explosives.
They were also found guilty of booby-trapping vehicles to kill policemen, carrying out suicide bombings inside the country, planning to explode oil pipelines and killing foreigners as well as Islamic religious leaders, SPA said. The convicted were given 30 days to appeal the verdicts.
SPA did not say when the offences occurred but the sentences are the latest in a series since authorities in 2011 established specialised courts to try Saudis and foreigners accused of belonging to Al Qaeda or involvement in deadly attacks in the kingdom from 2003-2006.
Meanwhile, the kingdom’s second crown prince said yesterday that Islam had been tarnished by “forces of darkness” and Saudi Arabia should do more to protect its youth from violent extremism.
The comments by Crown Prince Moqren bin Abdul Aziz, in a speech for 84th national day today, come after the kingdom this month agreed with other Arab states to back Washington against Islamic State group jihadists. The group has declared a “caliphate” straddling Iraq and Syria, where it controls swathes of territory.
AFP
