Riyadh - A special court in Riyadh has convicted 330 people in what was the first known Saudi trial of suspects accused of plotting terrorist attacks on behalf of al-Qaeda, prosecutors said on Wednesday. The accused were convicted of "belonging to a deviant group," a common Saudi term for al-Qaeda, Saudi Arabia's Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution told the official Saudi news agency and television station.
They were also convicted of "conspiring to spread chaos and endanger national security," and of financing terrorism, prosecutors said.
The court, comprised of a panel of 10 judges, was established in October to try suspects accused of involvement in bombings in Saudi Arabia, according to reports published in Saudi newspapers at the time.
The charges were in connection with four attacks against residential compounds in Riyadh that together killed 51 people and wounded 419 in May and November 2003, and with an April 2004 attack on a commercial building in Riyadh that left five dead and 148 wounded.
