Saudi Arabia sentences 7 militants to death over killings of Shiites
3 others were handed 25-year jail terms each for 2014 attacks
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Riyadh: A Saudi court has sentenced seven Daesh militants to death over a 2014 shooting attack that killed eight Shiite Muslims near the eastern city of al-Ahsa, state television reported on Wednesday.
In November 2014, three suspected Daesh members opened fire on Shiites who were celebrating Ashura in the village of Dalwa, killing eight people there.
Seven defendants were sentenced to death after their conviction while three others were handed 25-year jail terms each, the Ekhbariya channel said on Twitter.
Sunni militants have carried out many shootings and bombings in Saudi Arabia since 2014, soon after the then-Daesh leader, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, summoned Saudi supporters to mount attacks at home instead of abroad in wars in Syria and Iraq.
Most of the attacks targeted minority Saudi Shiites or state security officers, and were carried out by people who had sworn allegiance to Daesh or were claimed by the militant group in online postings, Saudi authorities said.
Saudi Arabia had earlier barred its citizens from going to wage jihad (holy war) abroad, its clergy denounced Daesh, and the kingdom imposed prison terms for supporting the group and joined US-led air strikes against Daesh in Syria.
