By Mansour Al-Shihri

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

RIYADH —The Criminal Court in Riyadh began on Monday the trial of seven members of a terrorist cell with links to Daesh (the so-called Islamic State).

One of the seven suspects admitted before the court to killing First Private Abdullah Nasser Madhi Al-Rashidi in Tabuk last year by firing 30 rounds from a machine gun.

He told the court that he was under the influence of drugs and claimed he killed the soldier because he considered him an infidel like other military men.

The defendant pleaded guilty to all the charges against him read out by the public prosecutor in the court. He also said he had sworn the oath of allegiance to Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

The court is trying a total of seven defendants consisting six Saudis and a Yemeni. The Saudis included two security men.

The public prosecutor presented the court with a list of 25 charges against the defendants. In addition to the cold-blooded murder of Al-Rashidi, the charges included sheltering other Daesh members, hiding evidence from security authorities and procuring weapons.

The prosecution sought the death sentence for the prime accused and severe punishments for the other six. He also sought a long prison sentence and subsequent deportation for the Yemeni national, who is the fourth defendant in the case.

The first defendant said he belonged to Daesh and supported its ideology. He said he considered all military men, the rulers and scholars in the country to be infidels who deserve to be killed.

He said he trailed Al-Rashidi until he found him in his private car. "I fired 30 bullets from a machine gun, which killed him immediately inside his car," he said.

He said he tried to escape from the scene before security officers caught him. He added that he kept photos of execution operations by Daesh in his mobile phone.

He also said he was addicted to drugs and that he still firmly holds to his devious beliefs.