Riyadh’s Specialized Criminal Court referred the case against a Saudi woman standing trial for transporting an explosive belt to a joint judicial committee made up of three judges, each of which is considering proper punitive measures, including capital punishment.
The Saudi woman is linked to ISIS and is charged with delivering explosives for a suicide bomb attack meant to target a mosque facility in security forces Asir region headquarters, eastern Saudi Arabia.
At the hearing, the prosecution said it was considering the extent to which her actions played a role in the bombing of the mosque in the city of Abha, an attack which killed 11 security men and four employees, and injured 33 others.
The judge rejected the claim on the defendant only concealing the actions of the perpetrator, her husband, and fitted the official role of accomplice as she aided the perpetrator in carrying explosives, concealing a terror ring, and playing an active role in plotting for terror crimes.
In the preliminary session, the judge stated that “the defendant’s actions are too excessive to fit mere concealment of the crime, and it should not be so that the defendant’s actions are downplayed as they actively contributed to the implementation of these crimes, which amount to crimes of Hirabah”
In Islamic law, Hirabah is a legal category which comprises highway robbery (traditionally understood as robbery with violence or grand larceny, unlike theft which has a different punishment), rape, and terrorism.
The woman was accused of supporting terror group ISIS, in addition to accompanying her husband when he was carrying the explosive belt.
Her husband is reported to have informed her of willfully joining the ranks of ISIS and plotting to carry out terror attacks. The defendant, at her full will, met with other ISIS members and did not inform the security services.
The charges also included covering up for her husband while sheltering other ISIS members in their residence, and funding terrorism.
