![An elderly couple walks on November 12th past the main gate of King Abdullah Park where a Yemeni expatriate stabbed three performers during a live play in the Saudi capital Riyadh the previous day. [Fayez Nureldine/AFP]](/cnmi_am/images/2019/12/19/21542-Saudi-Riyadh-theatre-700_496.webp)
An al-Qaeda leader in war-torn Yemen ordered a knife attack on a Spanish theatre group in Riyadh, Saudi state television reported Thursday (December 19th), as the suspected assailant's trial opened.
Madrid said four Spanish nationals were wounded in the stabbing spree during a live performance on November 11th, the first such assault since the kingdom began easing decades-old restrictions on entertainment.
The Yemeni suspect took orders from an al-Qaeda leader in Yemen, the official al-Ekhbariya television said, as his trial began in a Saudi criminal court.
It did not reveal the source of the information or offer any other details.
Saudi Arabia is leading a military coalition supporting the Yemeni government against the Iran-backed Houthis and has also been involved in the fight against al-Qaeda.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is active in Yemen, is considered by the US as the radical group's most dangerous branch.
Sweeping social reforms
Saudi police had earlier identified the assailant as a 33-year-old Yemeni expatriate.
An official investigation had led authorities to a second suspect, Okaz newspaper reported on Thursday without offering any further details.
The newspaper said the Yemeni attacker sought to sow "chaos and terror" in a bid to compel authorities to stop hosting entertainment activities in the Muslim kingdom.
The attack took place during a musical performance at the King Abdullah Park in the Saudi capital, one of the venues hosting the two-month "Riyadh Season".
The entertainment festival is part of a broad government push to open up the kingdom to tourists and diversify its economy away from oil.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has pursued sweeping social reforms that mark the biggest cultural shakeup in the kingdom's modern history, allowing mixed-gender concerts and the reopening of cinemas.
Although the reforms are popular among Saudi Arabia's mainly young population, they risk angering religious hardliners in the deeply conservative nation.
