Saudi Arabia Convicts 10 On Terrorism Charges

Ten Saudi nationals were convicted on terrorism-related charges and sentenced to prison terms of up to 15 years, according to media reports Wednesday.

They were convicted of forming a terrorist cell linked to al-Qaeda, as well as conspiring to attack Saudi oil facilities and killing U.S. soldiers in Kuwait, the government newspaper Okaz reported.

The alleged ring-leader was sentenced to 15 years and handed a travel ban of 15 years, according to the report.

In the court session on Tuesday in the capital Riyadh, the other defendants were handed verdicts of between two and 13 years.

Some of the defendants will however be released immediately because they have already served the time they were sentenced to, having been arrested in 2004 and 2005, the report added.

Prosecutors had asked for the death penalty. The convicts have a right of appeal against the sentences.

A series of terrorist attacks in the 1990s and early 2000s in Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, were blamed on al-Qaeda.