Abdul Rahman Al-Ali Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — The Jeddah Administrative Court on Sunday adjourned a trial against two members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Hai'a) accused of beating a young man and tearing off his clothes in front of a shopping mall in southern Jeddah after prosecution witnesses failed to attend the hearing. The presiding judge, Sheikh Saad Al-Malki, postponed the case until March 13 and said the eyewitnesses should be subpoenaed to attend the next hearing to give their testimonies. At the start of the hearing, the judge asked the first defendant if he had anything to add to his initial testimony about the charges against him, but he said he still denied all accusations. The defendant told the court that the young man was seen committing some anti-social acts near the shopping mall and when the two Hai'a men stopped him and asked him about his identity, he resisted them fiercely before running away from the policeman accompanying them. When the judge questioned him on the testimonies of the eyewitnesses who saw them beating the young man, the defendant replied that their testimonies were not correct. The judge also asked the first defendant if he had been fired or not, he responded that he was still on the job but had been transferred to the Hai'a committee combating begging. The second defendant also denied the charges and dismissed the testimonies of the eyewitnesses as false. The judge then called the eyewitnesses to testify, only to discover that they were not present. He adjourned the trial and asked for the eyewitnesses to be brought for the next hearing.
