Thamer Qamqoom Okaz/Saudi Gazette ARAR – A Saudi man who was cleared of a double murder in Iraq has now been charged with involvement in terrorist activities. Abdullah Azzam Al-Qahtani's lawyer Majeed Ahmed Mahmoud said his client is deliberately being targeted by Iraqi law enforcement authorities. He said Al-Qahtani was cleared of murdering two Iraqi goldsmiths because the crime took place while he was in jail. Al-Qahtani is now accused of being involved in bombing a number of ministries and buildings in Baghdad with the help of a six-man terrorist cell. Mahmoud said his client has confessed to the new charges against him, but added the confessions were made under duress because his body showed signs of extreme torture. Al-Qahtani entered Iraq by sneaking into the Al-Anbar Province illegally, Mahmoud said, adding his client was then arrested in the same area soon after and detained at a local police station in January 2009. He said investigations showed that Al-Qahtani was traveling back to the borders but failed to leave the country before he was arrested. The Saudi then forged an Iraqi passport to help him move around freely after he was released. Mahmoud said when Al-Qahtani was arrested by Iraqi forces in connection with the double murder on May 3, 2010, he was detained at the notorious Sharaf Camp, which is said to contain several secret detention centers where confessions are usually extracted by force. The lawyer said his client was tried by the Central Criminal Court, which sentenced him to death along with six other people on March. 16, 2011, and the sentence was approved by the Court of Cassation. Mahmoud said this was despite all witnesses testifying that he was in prison when the murders were supposed to have taken place. With regard to the new charges against his client, the lawyer said there is plenty of circumstantial evidence proving Al-Qahtani's innocence, but he was afraid the court will ignore it.
