Saudi confirms death penalties for murders of 4 French nationals

Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court has confirmed death sentences for 2 suspected Saudi Al-Qaeda members convicted of murdering 4 Frenchmen in 2007, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

They had been sentenced by a special "terrorism" tribunal in January of last year, in verdicts now upheld by the highest court, the Arryadh daily said.

The pair were convicted of shooting dead the French nationals -- 1 of whom was a teenager -- near the western city of Medina while they were on a desert excursion from their homes in the capital Riyadh.

Another 12 men convicted of helping the attackers were jailed for between 3 and 23 years.

Police killed the suspected mastermind of the attack, Walid Motlaq al-Raddadi, a 23-year-old Saudi, in Medina about 2 months after the murders.

Authorities in the kingdom set up specialised courts in 2011 to try dozens of Saudis and foreigners accused of belonging to Al-Qaeda or of participating in a wave of attacks that swept the country from 2003.

Those shootings and bombings killed more than 150 Saudis and foreigners.

The kingdom's current Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef oversaw a crackdown on the militants.

Arryadh also reported that a "terrorism" court in the Red Sea city of Jeddah sentenced 8 Saudis to between 1 and 17 years for trying to establish an Al-Qaeda cell to carry out attacks.

It did not indicate when the cell was allegedly active.

Source: Agence France-Presse, June 24, 2015

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