Al-Khafji member gets 13-yr jail

Ahmad Abdullah
Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — A court Wednesday sentenced an Al-Khafji terror cell member to 13 years in prison and barred him from traveling abroad for an equal number of years.

The Special Penal Court in Riyadh Tuesday awarded various sentences to ten militants of the cell for plotting attacks on US forces in neighboring Kuwait and on oil installations in the Kingdom.

Defendant No. 4 against whom the verdict was passed Wednesday was absent from the court when sentences against the ten were announced Tuesday.

All defendants faced charges of embracing Takfiri ideology, joining an Al-Qaeda terrorist cell in the Kingdom, planning attack on oil installations in the Kingdom, terror funding, possessing weapons and ammunition, inciting people against the ruler and money laundering among others.

Meanwhile, the presiding judge in another case released two defendants in the Saleh Al-Aufi-led terror cell of 55 militants.

Defendants 51 and 53 will attend the trial sessions from out of prison. This has come after the Special Penal Court heard replies to the charges leveled against the last batch of defendants (from 51 to 55).

The Prosecutor General leveled numerous charges against the five including providing cover to a number of wanted terrorists, participating in smuggling three militants to Yemen through illegal means, forging official documents and possession of weapons and ammunition.

The two defendants were released after signing an undertaking to attend the rest of the trial sessions at the court.