Ahmad Abdullah Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – A defendant in an ongoing terror trial at the Special Penal Court in Riyadh on Sunday rejected bail while nine fellow defendants appealed that they be released on bail as the trial continued. The presiding judge said the court looks into the defendant's situation before making a decision on granting bail irrespective of whether he requests it or not. The 10 defendants are facing charges of joining the terror cell operated by Saleh Al-Aufi. Defendant No. 23 requested the presiding judge not to include his name among the nine defendants who appealed for bail. The judges asked defendant No. 21 to meet his father who had come all the way from a remote part of Riyadh region to see his son and defend him, but the accused refused saying he feared that his father's poor health condition might deteriorate further on seeing him. The court on Sunday looked into charges against 10 defendants belonging to Al-Aufi's 55-member cell. The Prosecutor General charged four of the defendants with attempting to hijack a foreign airliner at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh. Other charges included terror funding, carrying out terrorist acts, traveling to a number of countries with the aim of fighting there, taking videos of a site in Tabuk with the aim of carrying out terrorist attacks, forging documents, training on explosives, planning to cross into Yemen illegally, procuring weapons, recruiting for Al-Qaeda, setting up a training camp, attempting a terrorist attack in Riyadh, and providing shelter and transportation to wanted terrorists, including Al-Aufi. Sunday's session, the third in the case against the so-called Cell of 55, was attended by all the three judges, representatives of the Human Rights Commission and media personnel. A copy of the charge sheet was handed to each of the defendants and they were told they could hire lawyers to defend them if they wished. Two of the defendants said they would defend themselves, two others authorized their fathers while the rest hired a lawyer or authorized their brothers to defend them.
