JEDDAH – A Saudi court has sentenced 11 people including foreigners to jail on charges including weapons training, bomb-making and ties to Al-Qaeda, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Friday. The prison terms handed down by the special court ranged from 18 months to 15 years. Some were convicted of “declaring that it was the duty of young people to go abroad to fight, and permitting suicide attacks, while some had links to people of the deviant doctrine.” Some were found guilty of “weapons training and training in bomb-making at Al-Qaeda bases,” SPA said, adding that “some defendants had links to someone involved in organizing the travel of youth to fight abroad.” Convictions also included “supporting Al-Qaeda attacks in the Kingdom and abroad... calling the government a supporter of infidels, and allowing the killing of members of the military.” The special court also sentenced two men to eight and nine years in jail, respectively, for taking part in violence in the Eastern Province. The first defendant was found guilty of joining three protests in the town of Awamiya. He was also found guilty of having “anti-Kingdom and anti-rulers pictures on his mobile phone... and of knowing dissidents in Qatif and covering up their activities.” He also had a picture of Hezbollah logo, but he replaced “Hezbollah” with “Al-Qatif” and wrote “the Islamic Resistance in Al-Qatif.” The second defendant, who was sentenced to nine years, was found guilty of taking part in “most demonstrations” in Qatif. He was also convicted of “surfing dissident Internet websites, and posting statements inciting opposition to the rulers... as well as calling for the release of prisoners,” SPA said. The two defendants and the prosecution have decided to appeal the verdicts, it said. During its vacation sittings over the last two weeks, the court sentenced 21 defendants accused of terrorism related charges to varying jail terms. One of the defendants, who was convicted of attempting to spying for Israel, was given 15 years in prison and a travel ban for a similar period after serving the jail term. The defendant was found guilty of informing the security guards at the Israeli Embassy in Jordan about his readiness to extend cooperation with them and pass to them any information that they wanted to know about Saudi Arabia. The presiding judge rejected the public prosecutor's plea to award him death penalty. – Agencies
