Report: Saudi Jailed 15 Years for 'Qaida Recruiting'

A Saudi court has jailed a man for 15 years after convicting him of recruiting 14 nationals to join al-Qaida's affiliate in neighboring Yemen, Al-Hayat newspaper reported Thursday.

A Riyadh court specialized in security cases convicted the unnamed Saudi national of recruiting the militants online after he held meetings in Yemen with al-Qaida leaders, the daily said.

The defendant helped the recruits reach Yemen and issued fake Yemeni identity cards for seven of them, it said.

He set up an email address "to serve members of al-Qaida in Yemen," the paper said, quoting the charges list. It said he coordinating the travel of the 14 recruits via email.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemeni franchise of the global militant network, was born out of a merger between the Saudi and Yemeni branches of al-Qaida in 2009.

Washington considers AQAP the most dangerous al-Qaida affiliate because it has been linked to a number of attempted attacks on the U.S. homeland.

The group claimed responsibility for the brazen daylight storming of the Yemeni defense ministry complex on December 5 in Sanaa, in which 56 people were killed, among them expatriate medical staff.