Riyadh, July 09: Saudi Arabian special security courts have convicted more than 300 people for al-Qaida terrorist activities in the first known trials of members of the group in Osama bin Laden’s ancestral homeland.
Al-Arabiya, a privately-owned Saudi TV station, reported today that 331 people in 179 cases had been tried and one given the death sentence. It quoted a justice ministry official as saying there had also been prison terms, travel bans, fines and house arrests, with an unspecified number of defendants acquitted.
Those convicted were described as having been involved in “supporting and financing terrorism” as well as going to “areas of conflict to fight” – an apparent reference to Iraq and Afghanistan, where Saudi nationals have made up a large proportion of all foreign fighters.
Saudi Arabia, backed by the west, has pursued a successful anti-terrorist strategy since May 2003, when al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula first surfaced in the kingdom, home to 15 of the 19 hijackers in the 9/11 attacks.
Al-Qaida’s 30 attacks targeted expatriate residential compounds, oil installations and government buildings. The authorities claimed to have foiled a further 160 attacks. In the worst single incident 22 foreign workers were killed in an attack on the Gulf city of al-Khobar in May 2004.
Hundreds of alleged militants have passed through government rehabilitation and re-education programmes. But there have also been allegations of torture and ill treatment. Human Rights Watch has said Saudi trials may not meet international standards and that up to 3,000 people were still detained without charge.
The Saudi interior minister, Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, announced last October that 991 suspects had been charged with participating in attacks over the preceding five years. It was not known before yesterday’s announcement that any trials had begun, probably for security reasons.
–Agencies–