“I categorically deny all these false charges,” he told a three-judge panel, according to a report published Thursday by local Arabic daily Al-Watan.

Court sources said the trial was postponed to next Wednesday on the request of the defendant’s lawyer to prepare replies to the charges leveled against his client by the Prosecution and Investigations Commission (PIC).

The rapist was arrested on May 4 and has been detained in Briman prison since then.

A relative of the accused who attended the court session said the family was sure that the court would reach a not guilty verdict because he was innocent.

“We have confidence in our judicial system. The case, which has been turned into a public opinion issue, will soon be closed,” he added.

The sources said the evidence against the defendant included photographs taken by surveillance cameras showing him with some young girls at one of the malls in the city, DNA samples taken from the clothes of one of the victims that matched his, medical examination reports of the victims and the testimonies from the assaulted girls.

The attorney general has called for the death sentence if the accused is found guilty.