“He exploited his job as a teacher to mislead his students to form a cell and take them to a desert location for weapons training. He also arranged for Defendant No. 5 to tempt and cajole students to join terror groups,” the crime sheet against Defendant No. 14 said.

He is a member of the Al-Mebriz terror cell which has 14-members. The cell is named after the neighborhood in the suburbs of the Riyadh city where they used to operate before security forces busted it.

Defendant No. 14 was also accused of providing financial support to Al-Qaeda after collecting a large sum from the worshipers assembled for Friday congregational prayers in a mosque. He persuaded the faithful to donate generously to a fund he said he was collecting to help the poor, although his real motive was to promote terror deeds, the crime sheet said.

Charges against seven suspects were read out in the court yesterday. The seven suspects present in the court yesterday were Defendant Nos. 8 to 14.

The cases of the Defendants Nos. 1 to 5 were read out in the court when the trial of the alleged members of the Al-Mebriz cell started on Monday.

A major charge against the cell members was that they plotted to blow up a military base in Khamis Mushyat and some compounds where foreigners lived.

The terror charges against the suspects included joining Al-Qaeda, adopting the takfiri ideology (declaring other Muslims as kafirs) issuing religious edicts against rulers, traveling to foreign countries to fight for Al-Qaeda, manufacturing explosives, sheltering wanted terrorists, recruitment of youths for terror activities, offering financial support to terror organizations, and possession of weapons and participating in terror training camps.

One of the specific charges against Defendant No. 8 was that he worked as a guide to locate some Al-Qaeda targets.

Defendant No. 9 was specifically charged with discovering villas where foreigners lived in Riyadh and also secretly following foreigners from their workplace to mark the compounds where they lived.

According to the case sheet, Defendant No. 10 bought a water tanker and GMC car to be used during terror attacks. He also provided shelter for Defendant No. 3 to hide from police for three days.

Defendant No. 12 provided cover for a training camp for suicide bombers in Makkah, the case sheet showed.

In another court hall, a hearing into the trial of the Al-Faraj cell continued yesterday. Defendant No. 28 was the only suspect present at the court.