A Saudi court sentences 15 people to death for spying for the kingdom’s rival Iran, local media and a source close to the case says, in a move likely to heighten regional tensions.
The source tells AFP that most of the 15 Saudis were members of the kingdom’s Shiite minority.
Their trial opened in February, a month after Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Tehran over the burning of the Saudi embassy and a consulate by Iranian demonstrators protesting the kingdom’s execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
Houthi Shiite rebels hold posters of late cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who was executed in Saudi Arabia, during an anti-Saudi protest outside the Saudi embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, January 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
The most serious charge leveled against them was high treason.
Prosecutors also alleged the accused had divulged defense secrets, tried to commit sabotage, recruited moles in government departments, sent coded information and supported “riots” in the Shiite-dominated eastern district of Qatif, Saudi media reports.
The 15 were among a group of 32 people tried over the espionage allegations, Alriyadh newspaper says.
— AFP
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