6 members of terror cell face court trial

RIYADH: The specialized criminal court in Riyadh has started the trial of six members of a terrorist cell for planning to blow up a residential complex in Riyadh and assassinate a provincial governor.

The prosecution has sought the death sentence for the main accused and two others.
Representative of the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution read the charges. The first defendant, leader of the cell, was charged with 17 crimes, including allegiance to Al-Qaeda, adopting the Takfiri though, planning to bomb a residential complex, targeting a governor, planning to kidnap a police officer, training on manufacturing explosives, harboring a person who went to places of unrest.
The second accused has been charged with manufacturing explosives, disobeying the guardian and going out to places of unrest among others, and the third defendant with participation in a banned gathering, filming it and publishing it on the Internet.
The fourth defendant faces eight charges, including adopting the Takfiri thought, defying the state, distributing publications, possessing chemical substances to manufacture explosives, harboring the coordinator who helped people to go to places of unrest in Syria, participating in a banned gathering in Jeddah, financing terrorist operations and violating previous pledges to keep away from suspicious places.
The fifth defendant has been charged with communicating with a wanted person and harboring him, supporting the promoter of Takfiri thought and meeting with him in banned gatherings to stir sedition.
The sixth defendant faces four charges, including disobeying the guardian, using the mosque and its facilities, attending suspicious meetings and storing information that violates the law on his computer.
The public prosecutor called for the death sentence for first, second and fourth defendants, with strict punishments against the remaining three.
The second defendant told the court that he trained with the terrorist cell to go Afghanistan, but he said he joined the group to lose weight.
He added that he tried to help with the manufacturing of a remote electronic device, and he turned himself in willingly to the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul after he spent five months in Syria.