The three Britons who appeared on Saudi television on Monday and admitted their guilt for three bomb explosions in the kingdom last year could face the death penalty, Saudi sources told the Gulf News on Wednesday.
The paper said that prominent Saudi religious scholars confirmed that “death is the only penalty the terrorists will face, in accordance with Sharia (Islamic law).”
They said the confessions proved that the men were involved in several crimes – premeditated murder, evoking terror and harming national security.
It would require that they be beheaded in public to warn others who might indulge in similar crimes, they added.
The men, James Lee, James Cottle and Les Walker, gave detailed confessions of the bombings, two in Riyadh and one in the eastern city of Khobar, that left two other Britons and an Egyptian injured.
Lee, who worked at a military hospital in Riyadh, said he and Cottle had been recruited in November to carry out the blasts.
Cottle said he worked for a private construction firm while Walker worked for an investment company.
They confessed to the December 15 explosion in Khobar that targeted David Brown, a British citizen.
They also confessed to the January 10 blast at the entrance of a shopping center in Riyadh and a third blast on March 15 outside a bookshop in downtown Riyadh that left a Briton and an Egyptian mildly wounded – Albawaba.com
