Saudi Arabia jails woman for funding al Qaeda

A Saudi court has sentenced a woman to 15 years in prison for sending 1 million riyals ($267,000) to al Qaeda’s regional branch, a pan-Arab newspaper reported on Sunday.

A Saudi court has sentenced a woman to 15 years in prison for sending 1 million riyals ($267,000) to al Qaeda’s regional branch, a pan-Arab newspaper reported on Sunday. A special security court said in its ruling that the unnamed Saudi woman had been in touch with al Qaeda members in Yemen and Afghanistan, serving as an intermediary between group members and aiding the militant network.

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“(The woman) was accused of claiming the state was heretical, harbouring people wanted by security, and promoting terrorist activities in the kingdom,” said the daily al-Hayat, reporting on a trial open only to some local media. The court in Riyadh also banned the woman from travelling abroad for 15 years after her release.

Her lawyer rejected the ruling and said he planned to lodge an appeal in the next thirty days, the paper said. The woman had also been using one of her properties as a warehouse for printing fake identity cards for young men who wanted to go join militants fighting in Iraq.