A terror suspect who is on trial at a special court in Riyadh refused to speak out in his defense when asked to. Defendant No. 14 who belongs to a 29-member terror cell, had repeatedly turned down the judge’s order to comment on charges leveled against him by the public prosecutor.
He refused to listen to the requests made even by his fellow defendants and their lawyers, prompting the judge to suspend trying him.
The dramatic scenes started when the trial resumed yesterday morning. The prosecutor general read out the charges against 10 of the total 29 defendants who are accused of belonging to a cell affiliated to Al-Qaeda. After listening to the charges, the judge asked the defendant whether he had anything to say about the charges. Even though the judge repeated this question, the defendant remained silent. Then, one of the defendants requested the judge’s permission to speak with him but to no avail.
Then other defendants and their lawyers also tried their best to respond to the charges. He also refused to appoint a lawyer at the expense of the Justice Ministry or even to receive a copy of the charges. The judge then read out the punitive measures that would be taken normally against those defendants who fail to cooperate with the trial proceedings, and warned him that he would face penal action for this. When all these attempts, taking nearly 28 minutes, failed, the judge decided to suspend trial proceedings against him.
The defendant refused to speak about his actions either to reporters or others who were present in the court. However, a defendant and his lawyer were seen whispering something in the judge’s ear. At one point, the court chief intervened in the case and asked the defendant whether he was ready to respond to queries in case he asked reporters or other defendants or policemen to leave the courtroom. His response was to remain silent. During the session, eight defendants were represented by lawyers appointed by the Justice Ministry while the ninth defendant appointed a lawyer himself.
The defendants denied the charges against them. One of them said that he had no association with the cell but only knows them as Mujahideen while another said the charges were baseless. A defendant said the public prosecutor had no right to circulate charges against suspects through the media without having any substantial evidence whereas another defendant alleged that the media were attempting to tarnish his image.
To this, the court chief responded that the judiciary would be fair to all and that if any defendants have grievances against media organizations, they could file lawsuits against them. Another defendant alleged that the sodomy charges leveled against some defendants were blown up unjustifiably by some media.
Also yesterday, the court examined the charges against four of the defendants who allegedly belonged to a 50-member terror cell. The public prosecutor read out the charges against the four who in turn denied the accusations against them.
Terror suspect refuses to speak
