A number of terror suspects will soon launch their legal defense at the Special Penal Court here. They are accused of planning attacks on targets in the Kingdom, Kuwait and Qatar. They are also accused of recruiting 41 people holding Saudi, Qatari, Yemeni and Afghani citizenship for their operations. They are facing over 210 charges filed against them by the Prosecutor General. The suspects allegedly used the Kingdom to plan and prepare their terror operations against American forces in Qatar and Kuwait and helped finance the ongoing fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are also accused of recruiting fighters for Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and preparing a border passageway between the Kingdom and Iraq for the crossing of recruits, fighters, weapons and money. The cell was divided into two sections – one headed by a Saudi national and the other by a Qatari. The Special Penal Court had specified the period immediately after Haj and Eid Al-Adha to hear the testimony of the accused and their replies to the charges. They have lawyers appointed by the Ministry of Justice because they cannot afford legal representation. The members of the terrorist cell were arrested in 2005/2006 (1426/1427H). Some are teenagers and others are in their twenties. The leader of the cell, a Qatari national, holds a diploma. Others have general or university education. According to the charge sheet, four of the cell members were assigned to attack a Ministry of Interior building near Jadeedat Ar'ar border post. They had also pledged their allegiance to Abi Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi, a terrorist who had been killed. One of the accused militants glorified two Al-Qaeda members – the terrorist leader Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, who was killed in the Kingdom, and Yusuf Al-Iyairi. One member is charged with documenting the cell's attacks on American military forces in Iraq. He shot videos of 20 combat operations using a video camera and then copied them onto CDs. He is believed to have been in charge of the media activities of the group. The investigations and confessions of the accused show that they were involved with a Syrian gang to smuggle 67 Saudi nationals into Iraq to fight there for money. Also, three of the accused returned to the Kingdom from Iraq to help facilitate a route to smuggle Saudis into that country. One of the accused also allegedly provided shelter for three men on the list of 36 most wanted terrorists. It is also alleged that one of the accused used his grandmother's farm to hide telecommunications and GPS devices until it was time to leave for Iraq. During their imprisonment, several of the accused attacked the director of the prison and the prison staff, threatened to take revenge against officials and to set the prison on fire. The head of the farm cell led a number of prisoners and threatened to start a prison riot, including smashing the lights and surveillance cameras. __
