The trial of five individuals suspected of participating in terror attacks on three residential compounds housing mostly Europeans in Riyadh started Wednesday in the Special Penal Court in the capital. The five were accused of joining an Al-Qaeda terrorist cell in the Kingdom and committing numerous crimes including killing security men and non-Muslim foreigners residing in the Kingdom, participating in attacks on Al-Mohayya and other residential compounds in 2003. Of the five accused, only four were in court Wednesday. Meanwhile, the court looked into the charges leveled against seven defendants from the cell of 29. The Prosecutor General read out charges before the defendants and handed each of them a copy of the charge sheet. The Prosecutor General charged defendant No. 21 with assuming the status of the jurisprudence (Fiqh) authority for deviant thought and considering it permissible to kill innocent people, security men and non-Muslim foreigners as well as taking or destroying public funds or property. He was also accused of training militants, joining a terrorist cell and Takfir of the government (to deem the government as that of infidels). The other charges include issuing edicts (fatwas) contravening those issued by the authentic Ulema on issues concerning the Ummah and society in general, insulting the Ulema and illegally possessing weapons. Six other defendants were also charged with various heinous crimes and the Prosecutor General demanded death penalty for three of them; deterrent discretionary penalties against others. The court also looked into the charges leveled against five suspects forming a terror cell. Out of the five, four attended the session. All the four defendants requested to be allowed to dump their lawyers and take the help of the Ministry of Justice in hiring their replacements. __
