Riyadh:
A Saudi court today jailed for 15 years a Saudi woman known as the "Al Qaeda lady" for being the first woman in the kingdom tried for involvement in violence by the jihadist network, state media said.
"A Saudi woman was sentenced to 15 years in jail starting on the date of her arrest, followed by 15 years of a ban on travelling after her release," the state news agency - Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The trial of the unnamed woman began on July 31.
The list of charges over which the specialised criminal court has been convicted includes "sheltering people wanted for security related matters and inciting terror acts in the kingdom," SPA said.
She was also condemned for "possessing two pistols" that she gave to militants and "financing terrorism and terror acts through collecting more than one million riyals ($267,000) and sending the money to the Al Qaeda organisation."
In August, the Okaz daily identified the woman only as the "Al Qaeda lady," saying she was 45 years old and was arrested last year in Buraidah, Qassim's provincial capital.
In June 2010, Saeed al-Shihri, a prominent Saudi leader of Al Qaeda's franchise in Yemen, urged supporters in Saudi Arabia to kidnap Christians. He also urged Saudi princes to press for the release of a female militant nabbed north of Riyadh whom he identified as Heila al-Qsayer.
At her family's request, the trial is taking place in private and without a media presence.
The woman had denied the charges, claiming she had been held captive by two men, one of whom she had been married to in the past. The two men, she claimed, were members of Al Qaeda.