Saudi court sentences 15 ‘Iranian spies' to death

A Saudi court sentenced 15 people to death yesterday for spying for the kingdom's arch-enemy, Iran, Saudi-owned media reported, in a ruling that could further stoke tension between the two rival powers.

The Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh sentenced 15 other suspects to prison terms ranging from six months to 25 years, and acquitted two, the Arabic-language al-Riyadh newspaper said on its website.

The suspects, comprising 30 Muslims, one Iranian and an Afghan, were detained in 2013 on charges of spying for Iran and went on trial in February. The rulings are subject to appeal, and death sentences must go to the king for ratification.

The suspects were accused of forming a cell in collaboration with the Iranian intelligence service with a view to passing on secret Saudi information to Tehran.

The trial is the first in recent memory in which Saudi citizens have been accused of spying. It comes at a time of high tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran over influence in the Middle East.

Tension has soared between Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran since Riyadh cut its diplomatic ties with Tehran earlier this year after two of its diplomatic missions in Iran were attacked by Iranian protesters following the execution by the Saudi authorities of a prominent Shia cleric.

Riyadh also accuses Tehran of supporting Yemen's Shia Houthi group, which overran the capital Sanaa and other provinces in 2014 and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government to flee to Saudi Arabia.

Many of the suspects are former employees of the Saudi defense and interior ministries, Saudi media said. They were accused of setting up a spy ring and passing sensitive military and security information to Iran, seeking to sabotage Saudi economic interests, undermining community cohesion and inciting sectarian strife.

The charges also included supporting protests in the Shiite-majority region of Qatif in Eastern Province, recruiting others for espionage, sending encrypted reports to Iranian intelligence via email and committing high treason against the king. Most were from al-Ahsa, a mixed Shiite and Sunni region that is home to around half the members of the kingdom's minority Shi'ite community.

Saudi Arabia has blamed sporadic unrest among Shiites in Qatif on Iran, but has never publicly presented evidence of a direct link between Tehran and those who took part in protests between 2011 and 2013. Iran denies any involvement. Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran soured after the latter's 1979 revolution, which brought Shiite clerics to power.