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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Riyadh - Asharq Al-Awsat

Saudi Arabia: 45 ‘ISIS’ Members Face Trial

The Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) in Riyadh. Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic

The Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) in Riyadh has begun the trial of a 45-member terrorist cell, including an ISIS leader in the Kingdom as well as two women; a Saudi and a Filipino.

The charges include bombing five mosques in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in an attempt to spur riot, assassinating security guards, and manufacturing explosives as well as funding terrorism and smuggling half-ton of TNT through Yemen.

The prosecutor pleaded the death penalty for some and awarded a maximum sentence of imprisonment for other defendants, in addition to imposing a travel ban and fines.

One of the suspects face charges that include agreeing with ISIS leaders outside Saudi Arabia to take over the affairs within the Kingdom. He is also charged with the attacks on mosques in Najran and Al-Ahsa in addition to the bombing of the training center of the emergency forces in Abha.

He is also accused of agreeing with a drug trafficker to smuggle 500 kilograms of TNT into Saudi Arabia and smuggling an anti-tank missile through the Suwaif border point.

The cell members who are under trial include those who were smugglers and manufactures of explosives, those who shot at security men, and those abusing hashish and drug pills, and another who used his wife and children as cover in front of security men and at security checkpoints.

The terror cell includes one woman, who was accused of assisting her husband, a cell member, in transporting explosive belts and covering him up in front of security men. The Filipino is the wife of another cell member who, together with her husband, manufactured explosive belts and carried weapons.

Among the suspects an individual who provided a hotbed for terrorists and watched buses transporting pilgrims to target them.

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