The Specialized Criminal Court here started the trial of 55 defendants – 54 Saudis and one Yemeni – Saturday and continued it on Sunday. The General Prosecution accused them of joining a terrorist cell inside the country belonging to Al-Qaeda terrorist organization led by Salih Al-Awfi. They are also accused of conspiring to carry out a number of criminal roles to implement the schemes of the cell, which included the 2004 terrorist attack on the US consulate in Jeddah, hostage-taking and using them as human shields, resisting security forces by opening fire and throwing grenades at them, beginning to implement terrorist operations to kidnap or assassinate officials and security men and foreigners, targeting security and oil installations, hijacking civilian aircraft and other terrorism-related charges. Representatives of the Human Rights Commission attended the trial. The judge did not allow the presence of media reporters on the request of the defendants.
