The trial of 88 terror suspects dubbed the Al-Khalediya Cell resumed at a special criminal court in Riyadh yesterday.
Charges against them included working as a security guard for the late Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, and joining the Al-Farouq training camp run under the command of Bin Laden in Afghanistan.
Some of the defendants are accused of committing several other crimes such as attempts to assassinate three senior government officials and poison a water tank at a residential compound, in addition to planning to attack the holy city of Makkah.
At the beginning of the court sitting, the prosecutor general read out the charges against the first 10 out of the 88 defendants, who included 72 Saudis, eight Chadians, two Yemenis, in addition to an Egyptian, Palestinian, Nigerian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and a Niger national.
The court chief presented a copy of charges to each one of the defendants. After this, the judge told the defendants that each one of them has the right to appoint a lawyer to defend him, and that the Justice Ministry would appoint lawyers if he was unable to meet the financial expense for this.
To this, Defendant No. 3 replied that he would appoint a lawyer for himself while the remaining nine defendants indicated their readiness to accept the ministry’s lawyers.
The prosecutor general alleged that one defendant worked as a security guard for Osama Bin Laden while he was in Afghanistan. The defendant was later arrested after returning to the Kingdom.
Another defendant was accused of storming into a Jeddah prison together with other terrorists in a failed bid to release some terror suspects.
The prosecutor general also claimed another defendant allegedly killed a Saudi citizen and robbed his car while fleeing following an encounter with security forces when they raided his hide-out in a residential apartment in Makkah’s Khalediya district.
Another defendant was accused of giving shelter to terrorists from Khalediya after leasing a rest house in Bahra, located in between Jeddah and Makkah, in addition to forging passports, and extending media support to Al-Qaeda.
The charges against another defendant included poisoning a water tank at a residential compound for foreigners and planning to carry out terror attacks in Makkah, besides plotting to kill a woman after suspecting that she was an informer for the authorities. Another charge against him was setting up a training camp in Rabigh city.
One of the defendants was accused of monitoring the movement of some police officials with a motive to kill them while others allegedly hatched a plot to assassinate a senior government official. The other charges included carrying out an armed robbery to collect money for Al-Qaeda and doctoring pictures of some key government figures and placing them on websites.
Another defendant was accused of putting 52 locations, including one in Taif, under surveillance with the ulterior motive of carrying out terror attacks there. The charges against one of the defendants included accepting SR100,000 in cash from a wanted terrorist and renting out an apartment for some wanted Yemeni terrorists who fled the neighboring country after carrying out terror attacks.
Representatives of the Human Rights Commission and reporters attended yesterday’s trial proceedings.
Bin Laden’s former guard is under trial
