10 December 2016
The Special Criminal Court in Riyadh on Thursday sentenced a citizen to six years in prison for traveling to Syria to join Jabhat Al-Nusra for weapons training.

The man was also convicted of other charges including making statements that challenged and insulted the Kingdom's government and religious scholars, instigating people to fight in conflict zones and being in touch with terrorists via social media.

Three and a half years of the six-year jail term were given for violating a royal order issued on Feb. 13, 2013; the rest were for violating anti-cybercrime regulations.

The court also ordered that the defendant's Twitter account be closed, based on article 13 of the above regulations.

A travel ban of six years is to take effect after he completes the prison sentence.

On Sunday, the same court sentenced a Saudi national to 30 years in prison for insulting the Kingdom's government, indulging in corruption and breaching security by using Molotov cocktails and firearms in the province of Qatif.

He was also convicted of preparing Molotov cocktails that he used against a police patrol in Qatif and attempting to blow up a gas pipeline near the Awwamiyah police station.

The court rejected the prosecutor's request to condemn the defendant to death, sentencing him instead to 30 years in prison.
He was also slapped with a fine of SR10,000 and a 30-year travel ban upon completion of his sentence.

© Arab News 2016