Manama: Saudi Arabia is putting on trial a couple and the husband’s sister for attempting to join the Daesh terror group in Syria and become involved in the armed conflict.
The two women are being tried by the court in Riyadh in absentia, Saudi daily Okaz reported.
The husband, a 34-year-old Saudi national, was charged by the public prosecutor with supporting Daesh and preparing himself to join the group.
His plan was to travel to Turkey with his wife, children and sister and from there move on to Syria to take up arms as member of the terror group.
The suspect had donated money to Daesh through three people, including his brother, who were members of the group, the prosecutor said.
He had also communicated with three people in Syria who were on the Saudi wanted list ahead of joining the group.
Video clips glorifying Daesh and inciting people to join it and to get actively involved in the armed conflict were found in possession of the suspect, the prosecutor added.
The suspect has failed to report to the security authorities in Saudi Arabia the names of people he knew and who travelled to Syria.
According to the prosecutor, the suspect, who has a high school diploma, was once barred from leaving for Turkey. He planned to go to Ukraine to keep a low profile for some time before joining Daesh.
He also tried to organise the travel of the wife of a suspect placed on the wanted list who wanted to join her husband abroad.
The main defendant’s wife, a 38-year-old teacher, is charged with supporting Daesh, planning to travel to a conflict zone to join in the fighting there and funding terror groups. The suspect took out a bank loan ahead of her planned trip to Syria.
She also faces the charges of not reporting her husband to the authorities over his deviant ideas and for covering up for two people who had a strong influence on her husband and encouraged him join the group.
The prosecutor said the wife also tried to arrange the trip of another woman and her husband to join Daesh.
The main defendant’s sister, 38, is a widow whose husband was killed in Syria. She was charged with supporting Daesh and attempting to join the terror group.
The sister will have to answer to the charge of not reporting her husband to the authorities before he left for Syria where he was killed and for not informing about the plans of her brother and his wife to go abroad to join the conflict zone.
The prosecutor said he wanted the most stringent punishment for the three defendants and the imposition of a ban on their travel abroad.
The defendants said they needed one month to prepare their defence for the next session of the trial.