Thirty-seven-year-old Haila Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Qaseer
officially replied to the list of 18 charges against her prepared by the
Prosecution and Investigation Commission (PIC).
She read out her replies written on a paper signed by her
and her two lawyers, both related to Al-Qaseer.
The judge asked the defendant, the first Saudi woman to be
tried on terrorist charges, to make sure that it was the same reply handed over
to the court a few days back and to sign it before attaching it to the court
papers.
In her 11-page reply, she strongly denied all charges and
reiterated her loyalty to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and
his government. She said she was a captive of the influence of her two late
husbands who had connections with Al-Qaeda.
The judge adjourned the trial to a later date to enable
prosecutors to compile evidence against Al-Qaseer in addition to a copy of her
authenticated confessions that she later denied, claiming they were extracted
from her under duress.
The prosecutor asked to be given a copy of her replies to
challenge them in the next hearing. He called for her to be severely punished.
Court sources said Al-Qaseer had celebrated an attack on the
life of Assistant Interior Minister for Security Affairs Prince Muhammad bin
Naif on Aug. 27, 2009, when Abdullah Asiri detonated a bomb attached to his
body during a visit to the prince's palace for the avowed purpose of turning
himself in to authorities. Al-Qaseer allegedly threw a party and invited a
number of her women friends.
Her celebration of the attack is also one of the charges
against her.
She was arrested in the city of Buraidah on Feb. 20, 2009,
in a massive raid which resulted in the arrests of 113 suspected terrorists.
The arrests were announced a year later in March 2010.
The charges against Al-Qaseer, a university graduate,
includes membership of Al-Qaeda, providing safe havens to terrorists and
funding terrorist operations, extending various services to the organization,
adopting deviant thoughts, extending logistical support to Al-Qaeda and
recruiting young girls.
She was also accused of collecting large sums of money for
the terrorist organization in addition to jewelry, gold and communications
equipment.
Other charges included renting an apartment to two wanted
terrorists, communicating with a number of dangerous Al-Qaeda members in Yemen
and Afghanistan, planning to travel to violent spots without the permission of
the ruler and in contravention of official fatwas (religious rulings), and
going to the south of the country to hand over a wireless communication system
to one of the terrorists.
Al-Qaseer was also accused of giving SR650,000 and a
separate amount of SR150,000 to a man to take to Al-Qaeda and another sum of
SR85,000 which she gave to a woman to rent a rest house, which was later allegedly turned
into a place to forge documents.
According to court sources, she was also accused of giving
two pistols belonging to her late husband to two terrorists. They said her
computer confiscated by police contained data proving her connections to
Al-Qaeda.
The sources said over a period of two years, Al-Qaseer was
able to collect about SR2 million in addition to various quantities of gold
while claiming she would build a mosque and orphanage in Yemen. She has always
maintained that the money she collected was for the poor and needy.
Al-Qaseer allegedly played a vital role in smuggling Wafa
Al-Shahri to her husband in Yemen, Al-Qaeda leader Saeed Al-Shahri. He was
planning to take Al-Qaseer as a second wife before he was killed by security
officers in Jazan province.
Al-Qaseer was a widow of Abdul Karim Al-Humaid, an employee
of Saudi Aramco who taught her how to live in austerity. After his death, she
married his disciple Muhamamd bin Sulaiman Al-Wakeel, who was killed in a
confrontation with security forces about seven years ago. When he died, she was
five months pregnant. She later gave birth to a daughter, known as “Rahab”.
