Marrakech - Last February, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia confirmed that Saudi citizens who fight in foreign conflicts could be jailed for up to 20 years, reported Middle East Eye.
A court in Saudi Arabia on Monday sentenced 13 defendants for up to 10 years in prison on charges that included joining an Islamist group and fighting overseas. The 13 were part of a larger group of 32 defendants and were convicted of "following the Takfiri doctrine," a term usually used to refer to al-Qaeda, the official SPA news agency said.
Ever since the conflict with Al Qaeda began, following the end of the war between the Soviets in Afghanistan and the return of Al Qaeda fighters to Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom has been afflicted with terrorist cells which it continues to combat. While some sources in the West blame private sources in the Kingdom for funding ISIL and resistance fighters against Bashar Al Assad’s government, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken an uncompromising stand against terrorism and has supported the U.S.-backed coalition against ISIL.
King Abdullah recently warned that ISIL “will reach Europe in a month and America in another month” if it is not urgently confronted by “the broadest possible coalition of nations.” Domestically, he has vowed not to “allow a handful of terrorists, using Islam for personal aims, to terrify Muslims or undermine our country and its inhabitants.”
In London, as late as August this year, ISIL was permitted to march in the streets of the capital with a police escort. Following the end of the cold war, the UK security services have taken a longtime to adjust to the rise of Islamist terrorists.