Trial of physician treating terrorist groups in Syria commenced

JEDDAH: A specialized criminal court in Riyadh put on trial a Saudi doctor accused joining terrorist organizations in Syria and treating their wounded.
The defendant was a lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine in a Saudi university.
The bill of indictment by the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution includes the defendant’s support for terrorist organizations involved in the fighting and traveling to Syria in order to support the militants and treat their wounded fighters, and meeting with terrorist leaders.
The bill of indictment includes creating a Twitter account in order to facilitate the travel for fighting, storing materials that threaten public order and possession of a Kalashnikov automatic weapon while he was staying in Syria. The defendant allegedly sold it when he returned to the Kingdom.
The prosecutor requested in the list of indictment to penalize the doctor, confiscate his assets and to prevent him from traveling. The defense requested a grace period to submit a defense.
The case is not the first one involving a Saudi doctor joining a terrorist organization in Syria. A Saudi doctor was killed in 2014 after he joined Daesh in Syria and Iraq, where he was treating the wounded militants.
A photo of the doctor was found in which he was holding an automatic weapon and wearing a black surgical gown.