Al-Qahtani was killed in the recapture of the mosque but Juhayman, and 67 of his fellow rebels survived the assault and were captured. "All the surviving males" were tried secretly.
[7][37] They were not shown leniency.
[38] The king secured a
fatwa (edict) from the
Council of Senior Scholars[7][37] which found the defendants guilty of seven crimes:
- violating the Masjid al-Haram's (the Grand Mosque's) sanctity;
- violating the sanctity of the month of Muharram;
- killing fellow Muslims;
- disobeying legitimate authorities;
- suspending prayer at Masjid al-Haram;
- erring in identifying the Mahdi;
- exploiting the innocent for criminal acts.[39][40]
On 9 January 1980, 63 rebels were publicly
beheaded in the squares of eight Saudi cities
[37] (
Buraidah,
Dammam,
Mecca,
Medina,
Riyadh,
Abha,
Ha'il and
Tabuk). According to
Sandra Mackey, the locations "were carefully chosen not only to give maximum exposure but, one suspects, to reach other potential nests of discontent."
[38]
Grand Mosque Seizure - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia