The defendants made the charge when the special court trying them was in session on the fourth day.
They said the Riyadh High Court handed them up to two years jail time nine years ago and they were not released after the completion of their respective terms even after the Court of Grievances ordered their release.
According to the defendants, they were not released because the General Investigations Department stood in the way of their release.
One of them, who claimed that he was handed a one-year jail term by the Riyadh High Court at that time, submitted to the trial judge a paper that was apparently a document issued by the vice president of the Court of Grievances.
He said he was convicted of providing shelter to Turki Al-Dandani, who formed a cell for terrorist operations in Al-Jouf. He said when security forces surrounded Al-Dandani’s secret camp, the terror leader blew himself up.
On Monday, the special trial court had its fourth hearing to examine the charges against 85 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.
The prosecution started reading the charges against 15 more defendants at 10 a.m. in the presence of a three-member bench. Members of the Saudi Human Rights Commission and reporters were also present at the trial.
The rest of the defendants in the case are expected to hear the charges against them in subsequent hearings.
The accused who heard the charges against them at Monday’s hearing were Defendant Nos. 41, 42, 50 and 61. The accusations against them include participation in bombing the residential complexes, membership of Al-Qaeda, following the takfiri cult and circulating fatwas inciting rebellion against the ruler, possession of explosives and deadly poisons.
Defendant Nos. 62, 63, 64 and 68 were charged with providing protection to the leader or members of the Dandani cell and transporting them. Defendant No. 64 was allegedly involved in a plot to bomb aircraft in the King Sultan Air Base in Al-Kharj. No.70’s charges included hiding weapons belonging to Dandani and his cell members. The charge sheets of Nos. 51, 60, 65, 66, 69 and 71 included misleading security forces, forgery of documents, sheltering dangerous terrorists, giving financial support to terrorists and possessing CDs with instructions on how to make explosives.
Most of the defendants slammed the media for portraying some of them as homosexuals. They demanded the media report their denial of the homosexuality charge against them and also be fair and factual in their reporting.
The court ordered Sunday all members of the media to leave the courtroom in compliance with the wish of a defendant who 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.
It was reported earlier that the charge of sodomy was made against the Defendant Nos. 12 and 14 without revealing their identity.
