Abdulrahman Al-Ali Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — The Jeddah Administrative Court has acquitted two members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) who were accused of assaulting a young Saudi outside a local mall. The court's decision was taken after the plaintiff had failed for the ninth time to produce witnesses who had initially testified that they saw the two Haia members beating him up while he was waiting inside his car near a mall in south Jeddah a few months ago. The young man accused the Haia members of tearing his clothes and assaulting him while he was inside his car. The plaintiff claimed that he sustained contusions and abrasions during the ensuing scuffle. During the court hearing, the first defendant rejected the assault charges. He told the court he saw the plaintiff engaging in inappropriate behavior near the mall and asked for his identification card. However, the latter refused, resisted arrest and ran away. The second defendant also denied the charges and asked the court to arraign the witnesses who falsely testified at the police station that they saw him and his colleague beating the young man. The witnesses did not show up for the hearing. One of the witnesses was the mall's security guard. He had testified to the police that he saw one of the Haia members beating up the young man inside the latter's car. Then the man got off the car and ran away, according to the witness. The first defendant dismissed this testimony as untrue and asked the court to arraign the security guard who had failed to show up for the hearing. The second witness was a cab driver who claimed that he saw the Haia members arresting the young man and taking him to their car. The second defendant dismissed the testimony saying it was contradictory, and asked the court to bring the witness but the latter failed to appear in the court despite repeated summons. Both Haia members admitted that the young man may have sustained some abrasions because he resisted their attempt to arrest him.
