Saudi court jails al bin Laden associate, Qaeda recruiters: newspaper

One of the defendants confessed of helping bin Laden shelter at the home of a Saudi citizen living in Pakistan

DUBAI:  A Saudi court has jailed at least 13 men on counts including the recruitment of al Qaeda militants for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and sheltering Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, Saudi newspapers said on Tuesday.

Most of the 19 hijackers in the Sept 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, and some of the victims' families are pursuing a lawsuit accusing Saudi Arabia of providing material support to al Qaeda, a charge which Riyadh denies.

The Arabic-language newspaper Asharq al-Awsat said one of the defendants confessed in court that he had met al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden after the Sept 11 attacks and helped him shelter at the home of a Saudi citizen living in Pakistan after he fled the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

The defendant was also an associate of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept 11 attacks, and planned other operations with him, according to al-Sharq al-Awsat.

A militant cell which the defendant founded contained two members who would go on to participate in the Sept 11 attacks.

The al-Riyadh newspaper made no specific reference to the Sept 11 attacks but reported that the specialized criminal court in Riyadh had handed down prison sentences to 13 defendants ranging from one to 23 years in jail.

A Justice Ministry spokesperson was not immediately available to comment but the Interior Ministry said it was checking the report.

Saudi Arabia suffered a wave of militant attacks between 2002 and 2005.

The kingdom successfully stamped out the violence with a major security crackdown, putting many behind bars and outlawing their groups. Hundreds of suspected militants have been tried in a series of hearings since 2006.