Saudi jailed 15 years for trying to spy for Israel

A Saudi court sentenced a local man to 15 years in jail for offering to spy for Israel while he was visiting Jordan, newspapers in the Gulf Kingdom reported on Sunday.

The court found the man guilty of attempted espionage for Israel after he was reported to have gone to the Israeli embassy in Amman and asked to meet its officials.

Saudi newspapers, citing a court statement, said the unnamed defendant told the embassy guards he wanted to see Israeli officials to “offer them to cooperate with Israel and provide them with any information they want about Saudi Arabia.”’

They said the prosecutor at the court in the Western Red Sea port of Jeddah had demanded the execution of the defendant.

“The judge refused the prosecutor’s plea on the grounds that deterring the defendant can be done without bloodshed. The judge also banned the defendant from travelling outside Saudi Arabia for 15 years,” Arar Arabic language daily said.

The papers quoted the judge as saying the sentence can be appealed but they did not make clear how the defendant was arrested or if he met Israeli diplomats.

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