The trial has resumed against 85 men accused of carrying out terrorist attacks on three housing compounds in Riyadh on May 14, 2003. The attack resulted in the deaths and injury of 239 innocent people including women and children. During the session the court approved requests by 16 defendants for lawyers to plead on their behalf. It then gave 27 of the defendants the chance to reply to charges against them. The 32nd accused admitted to some of the charges against him; however he asked the court to take into consideration his attestation of his confessions and his repentance. The 33rd accused read out a statement in which he denied the all charges against him. He said, “I surrendered to the authorities concerned and I'm one of the repentants. I request implementing the regulations.” He insisted that if he had been an Al-Qaeda member, he never would have surrendered. The 43rd, 46th and 47th defendants totally denied the charges against them, despite the fact that they had attested their confessions. They admitted to the court that they made these confessions out of their own free will and were not subjected to any duress by the judge. However they indicated that they made the confessions out of fear of the investigators. The specialist penal court also heard the fifth session in the trial against a Saudi accused of supporting Al-Qaeda. The prosecutor general says he embraced the Takfiri approach of the Kharijites of unjustly denouncing other Muslims as infidels. In the next session, the Prosecutor General will reply to the defendant's statement that some of the charges against him were ruled on in a previous case.
