One of the 18 defendants currently on trial in Riyadh is being charged with supplying the RDX explosive used in the attack and sheltering the men who executed the operation that took the lives of at least 31 people from 10 countries and injured 160 others.
None of the defendants have been identified by name. The man accused of supplying the explosive is also accused of communicating with Al-Qaeda arms specialist Rakan Al-Saikhan and militant commander Abdul Rahim Al-Nashiri shortly before the formation of a terror cell in the Kingdom.
He is also accused of forging a passport for Al-Nashiri to enable his entry into the Kingdom from the United Arab Emirates. He is also charged with smuggling Al-Qaeda activists Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin and Khaled Al-Haj by car from Yemen.
He is believed to have brought into the country rocket-propelled grenades and SAM rockets, as well as the 800 kg of RDX. When he was arrested, a prosecutor explained on Tuesday, he was found with two hand grenades, 36 kg of RDX, a number of firearms, “powerful” telecommunication devices and SR228,000 in cash.
Another of the 18 defendants was identified as a former employee of the King Khaled Airbase in the southwestern city of Khamis Mushayt.
He is accused of protecting a known terrorist and providing him with money and intelligence regarding the location of foreigners living in the region. He was found with 7,700 rounds of ammunition.
Another defendant was accused of plotting to bomb Saudi Aramco facilities. He was identified as a relative of Ramzi bin Al-Shaibah, the Yemeni suspect accused of being a key player in the Sept. 11 attacks. He was arrested in 2002 on the first anniversary of the attacks and is currently considered one of the high-level detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
The suspect was also accused of traveling to Afghanistan, taking the oath of allegiance to Osama Bin Laden and training in using sophisticated weaponry. He was also accused of traveling with forged documents.
When the judge asked the defendant to respond to the charges, his only reply was that he was 33 years old and wanted to get married. The judge assured him that the court would direct jail authorities to arrange his marriage.
The accusations against another 40-year-old defendant included giving protection to terror suspects and possessing tapes of speeches of Bin Laden and other terrorist leaders.
Riyadh trial gives a glimpse of methods terror suspects used
Publication Date:
Wed, 2011-07-06 01:32
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