The Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh issued on Thursday death sentences against four Saudis accused of terrorism and espionage for Iran.
The four defendants were also accused of forming a terrorist cell inside Saudi Arabia to target its stability.
This cell operates under the order of Ahmed al-Mughassil, leader of the Hezbollah al-Hejaz, who orchestrated the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers residence at a US military base in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Mughassil had been captured in 2015 in the Lebanese capital Beirut and transferred to Riyadh.
Members of the terrorist network were trained in camps in Iran, including Tehran, Mash’had and Qom to revive the terrorist Hezbollah al-Hejaz cell, after their plots were foiled in Qatif.
Iran had planed to cause chaos in Qatif. However, Saudi security officials foiled all terrorist plots and flushed out weapons’ caches hidden between houses and farms.
Before his transfer to Riyadh where he is currently under arrest, al-Mughassil lived in Iran for 19 years, and had used the country as a base for plotting terrorist attacks on Saudi Arabia.
Al-Mughassil was supported by the Iranian regime, which opened for him the camps of the “Revolutionary Guards.”
One of the defendants confessed to establishing a tourism office to recruit people and facilitate their trips to Iran where they were trained on organizing demonstrations to incite chaos in Qatif.
Recruits in Iran camps were also trained on the use of weapons and explosives.
Another defendant admitted he had travelled with this family on a religious visit to Iran, where he met Al-Mughassil and handed him a closed letter from one of his relatives. After reading the letter, Al-Mughassil informed this defendant about his intention to leave Iran.
The defendant then returned to Saudi Arabia, where he was arrested at the airport.
One month later, Al-Mughassil was arrested in Beirut, then transferred to Saudi Arabia.
