A college professor has filed a lawsuit against the Makkah Police Department, accusing three police officers of pulling him over, arresting him, and beating him in front of his family for alleged belligerence with policemen earlier this week. After the arrest, the man was taken to hospital withbruises all over his body and a bleeding nose, according to the police report. He has been hospitalized for three days. Dr. Muhammad Al-Murai, a technical college professor, had gone to court to process a power of attorney document for a housemaid visa. He was required to present the original visa in court. But, according to Maj. Abdulmohsin Al-Mayman, spokesman of the Makkah Police Department, Dr. Al-Murai did not have the relevent document with him at the time and consequently got into a heated verbal exchange with one of the court security men. Dr. Al-Murai then left the court after the war of words, and he brushed past a security man who tried to stop him, the Makkah police spokesman said. Following the rules, a patrol car then tried to stop Dr. Al-Murai on the road, but he kept speeding away, Maj. Al-Mayman said. When he was eventually pulled over, he got into a fight with the policemen, Maj. Al-Mayman said But Al-Mayman cited the court employee who was handling the paperwork as saying that the professor had not started the quarrel. “I was surprised at being stopped at the door as I was leaving, on the gounds of baseless claims of verbal abuse against the security men inside the court building,” Al-Murai said. “I told the policeman at the door that I had my family with me in the car, and I asked to be allowed to take them home and come back,” he said. “But the policeman refused and I just took off. “They chased me like a criminal for 10 km, pulled me over, and beat me in front of my wife and kids,” he said. The professor said that he would pursue the case and would not settle it out of court. _ SG __
