The defendant said he opposed the presence of journalists because he blamed them for defamatory reports that he is a homosexual. He said he attended the trial in order to refute the charges of sodomy against him.
The media did not claim the defendant sodomized anyone, but he argued that making a charge without specifying the name made the public suspect all defendants as homosexuals and he suggested that name of the homosexual should be published to clarify suspicions.
The judge told the defendant that suspects’ names were not published because it was against the country’s printing and publishing regulations, which was outside the domain of the court.
On Sunday, the special trial court had its third hearing to look into the charges against 15 militants accused of involvement in the bombings of three compounds in east Riyadh and the plots to attack King Khaled Air Base in Khamis Mushayt and Prince Sultan Airbase in Al-Kharj. In all, 85 militants are charged with involvement in the attacks.
The protesting defendant walked out of the courtroom refusing to listen to the charge sheet read out in the court even after the judge warned him that his conduct would in no away affect the course of the trial.
However, an official of the Human Rights Commission went after the defendant and persuaded him to return. It was then that the defendant made the request that no reporter be present in the courtroom when the charge sheet against him is read out. The judge complied with his demand and ordered the journalists to leave the chamber.
In the sitting that began at 10 a.m. charge sheets against 15 of the 85 accused were read out while charges against 19 other defendants were read in the previous two sittings.
Apart from the bombing of the three residential complexes in Riyadh on May 13, 2003, the major charges against the accused included plots to kill important members of royalty and security officers, conspiring with foreign parties to undermine the Kingdom’s national security, spreading takfiri ideology (branding Muslims as infidels and enemies of Islam), and issuing fatwas pertaining to their efforts. The charges included associating with Al-Qaeda and importing and possessing explosive materials and heavy weapons. They were also charged with destroying government and private buildings and killing members of the public and security officers. The charges also included staging armed resistance against state security.
The militants had reportedly formed a cell named after Turki Al-Dandani, who was killed in a gunbattle with security forces in Jouf.
They were also charged with terror financing and recruitment, providing refuge and forging documents for terrorists. The bombing of the three compounds in Riyadh resulted in the death of 239 people including women and children.
Defendant No. 24 was also charged with exploiting the Internet to abuse the grand mufti and the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars and publishing a hit list of security officers. One of the charges against the 26th defendant is preparing a hide-out in a villa in the Al-Jazeera district in which a cell member was killed in an explosion.
While Defendants No. 26 and No. 37 were involved in the plot to attack King Khaled Air Base in Khamis Mushayt, Defendants No. 27, No. 29, No. 31, No. 34, No. 36 and No. 37 were involved in the plot to attack Prince Sultan Airbase in Al-Kharj. No. 37 was also involved in an attempt to assassinate an Interior Ministry official. No. 35 was charged with dealing in drugs and liquor.
The public prosecutor is demanding the death sentence for 13 of the defendants. The prosecutor said another defendant should be crucified because he was one of the bombers of the Al-Hamra Complex in Riyadh.
