Saudi trial opens for ‘al-Qaeda Lady’

A SAUDI court has opened the trial of the “al-Qaeda Lady”, the first woman in the kingdom accused of involvement in terrorist activities, local media reported.

The specialised criminal court began the trial on Sunday of “a woman accused of joining al-Qaeda, sheltering wanted elements and recruiting members of the terrorist al-Qaeda network,” reported Al-Madina newspaper today.

The woman, who was not identified, is also accused of “financing terror and possessing weapons to use them in terrorist crimes”, the daily said.

At her family’s request, the trial would take place in private and without media presence, it added.

Another local daily, Okaz, said the woman, identified only as the “al-Qaeda Lady”, is 45 years old and was arrested last year in Buraidah, Qassim’s provincial capital.

In June 2010, Saeed al-Shihri, a prominent Saudi leader of al-Qaeda’s franchise in Yemen, urged supporters in Saudi Arabia to kidnap Christians and Saudi princes to press for the release of a female militant nabbed north of Riyadh whom he identified as Heila al-Qsayer.