The special criminal court in Riyadh has sentenced 70 Saudis and one Yemeni to jail terms ranging from 10 to 27 years.

The court also sentenced the Saudis to travel bans, with deportation for the Yemeni national once he completes his sentence. The guilty men were members of the Terrorist 86 cell.

The court deferred the verdicts against five absent defendants until its next session, while three other defendants were acquitted because of a lack of evidence presented by the prosecutor. One defendant was referred to a psychiatric clinic.

The families of the defendants, journalists, and a member of the Human Rights Commission were present at the sentencing.

The men were found guilty of traveling to conflict zones to fight, embracing terrorist and anti-Islamic beliefs, supporting the Al-Qaeda leader in Yemen, smuggling wanted terrorists across the border, financing terrorist activities, spreading extremist ideas, possession of weapons without licenses, opening fire at security officers, and other offenses.

Assassination plot

Separately, the same court sentenced three Saudi nationals to varying jail terms for various offenses including planning assassination of a government official by detonating two car bombs outside the Ministry of the Interior.

The sentences included six years in jail for one of the men, who will be prevented from traveling for a similar period after serving his sentence. The man was found guilty of embracing a deviant ideology, and was found to be in possession of some illegal equipment. He was also charged with receiving funds to leave Yemen and fight with Al-Qaeda, as well as his intention to finance terrorists.

The second defendant was sentenced to two years and six months in prison, and received a travel ban for a similar period. This man tried to fund the first defendant's trip to Yemen and allowed him to use his own computer to communicate with wanted persons.

The third defendant was sentenced to six months and a subsequent six-month travel ban. He was found guilty of withholding information about the intentions of the first defendant to leave Yemen to conduct terrorism-related activities.