The trial of Egyptian lawyer Ahmad Al-Jizawee and his alleged accomplice Islam Bakr, accused of smuggling narcotic tablets into Saudi Arabia, is scheduled to start Wednesday, according to Ali Al-Ashiri, Egyptian Consul General in Jeddah.

In a statement released by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Cairo Thursday, Al-Ashiri said charges against the accused would be read out at the first hearing and they would be provided copies of the charge sheet to prepare their defense.

The two Egyptians will be granted sufficient time to reply to the charges against them. Al-Ashiri said the Egyptian Consulate received approval from the Saudi authorities to send its legal consultant to all the sessions of the trial.

Lawyer Sulaiman Al-Hinaini, representative of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) who is delegated to monitor investigations into the case, said early this week Al-Jizawee and his two aides, Egyptian national Bakr and a Saudi citizen, had been charged with smuggling and possessing narcotic substances. He said the whole file had been referred to the General Court in Jeddah, which was in the process of setting the dates for the hearings and appointing a judge to look into the case.

Al-Hinaini lauded the cooperation of the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution (BIP) with the NSHR by allowing him to go through all the documents related to the case. He also expressed appreciation for allowing the legal consultant of the Egyptian Consulate and the NSHR representative access to the Egyptian defendants.

Al-Jizawee was arrested after finding 21,380 Xanax tablets in his possession. Xanax is a controlled narcotic, which could be sold only under prescription from a specialist. The tablets were found hidden in infant milk powder containers and in two wooden boxes with copies of the Holy Qur’an.

The Egyptian was stopped by Saudi Customs on arrival at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah on an Umrah visa after he was found possessing the banned substance in large quantities. Al-Jizawee was not donning the Ihram clothes on arrival as was expected of Umrah pilgrims.

The Customs officers handed Al-Jizawee to the Drug Combat Department, which referred him to the BIP.