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Saudi Arabia Sentences Two al-Qaeda Members to Death | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Al-Qaeda (Photo: Reuters)


Riyadh– Al-Qaeda’s involvement in the assassination of Saudi top security officer 12 years ago will soon be concluded after Saudi court sentenced two terrorists to death and a third to 28 years in prison.

The three defendants in this case are members of a terrorist cell of nine members, eight of which were trialed in 2013 for providing logistic support to terrorists Mansour al-Thubaity and Kamal Foudah the main executors of the assassination of Lieutenant Colonel Mubarak al-Sawat.

On June 18, 2005, terrorists assassinated Lieutenant Colonel Mubarak al-Sawat in the suburb of al-Sharie in Makkah in front of his house as he was leaving for work.

Thubaity and Foudah were killed during a police raid in 2005, while eight others were arrested.

On Monday, Criminal Court issued its new verdicts on this case with the presence of the three criminals. One was sentenced to death by Hirabah punishment and the other was sentenced to Discretionary penalty.

The terrorist cell’s role revolved around three primary elements: planning the operation, surveillance, and arming the executors. The cell also attempted to carry out several terrorist operations inside Saudi Arabia and coordinate to transfer several Saudi militants to the hot zones.

Four years ago, Specialized Criminal Court heard the case against the eight terrorists of the cell four years ago. The court refused the death sentences and issued life in prison of total 152 years, of maximum 25 years and minimum 10 years.

However, the Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia specialized in hearing death penalties, overruled the sentence of three defendants for their primary involvement in the assassination of Lt. Sawat and ordered the Specialized Criminal Court to retrial them again, which in turn sentenced two to death and the third to 28 years in prison.