17 sentenced over terrorism charges in Saudi Arabia

A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced 17 suspects to jail terms ranging from nine to 33 years as they were involved in terror attacks in the country, a media report said.

The suspects were convicted of embracing a deviant ideology, contacting and sheltering members of Al Qaeda network, funding terrorist activities, illegal possession of weapons, undermining national security and forging ID documents, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported Monday.

The 17 men are part of a larger group of 67 defendants on trial in Riyadh over similar accusations.

The group has also been accused of disobeying the country's ruler and travelling to conflict zones to take part in fighting.

The court gave the defendants 30 days to appeal against the verdict.

The court rulings follow a massive crackdown by authorities in Saudi Arabia where hundreds of terrorists have been sentenced for having links to Al Qaeda and its affiliated organisations.

In 2011, Saudi Arabia began a series of prosecutions for alleged offences committed during the peak of Al Qaeda violence in the country between 2003 and 2006.