A kiss, a hug and a warm apology were given Saturday to Muhammad Al-Juhani, the man with a disability who was allegedly physically assaulted by a social worker at a rehabilitation center in Madina last week. The apology was made by the director of Social Affairs in Madina. Hatem Barri, who also heads the committee investigating the alleged assault, said that Al-Juhani would receive better future treatment at the center. But Al-Juhani was taken aback when he heard about this. “I won't be back to be beaten again by that supervisor,” he said. The committee started its investigation Saturday by hearing testimony from the man with the disability, the supervisor and witnesses at the rehabilitation center. Barri said that his “sincere” apology was not meant to convince the Al-Juhani family to drop the case against the center. “The apology is a different issue. The case is taking its legal course,” he added. Al-Juhani told Barri of his alleged maltreatment at the center. “The supervisor abused me physically in the bathroom with the help of a foreign worker. Whenever I took off my clothes for a shower, he beat me,” he claimed. The beating did not only happen in the bathroom, but also in the kitchen, he said. “When I was having tea at the kitchen table, the supervisor came and hit me. He shouted at me to go to bed,” Al-Juhani described his painful experience. This was the last time Al-Juhani had to undergo this alleged torture from the supervisor before he was taken to hospital for treatment. Al-Juhani has a history of being abused at the center, his brother claimed. “A year ago, we noticed bruises on his body,” said Nasser Al-Juhani. The family then went to the center to complain and they were allegedly told by the assistant director to keep quiet, amid promises that the assailants would be punished and that there would be better future treatment. As the investigation proceeded Saturday, another supervisor at the center allegedly tried to convince Nasser to drop the case. The fellow supervisor allegedly pleaded for mercy for his colleague, who has a family of seven, but Nasser claimed he was not ready to offer any forgiveness. It is also claimed that a group of people visited the Al-Juhani family's house in an attempt to have the case dropped, but the father has insisted that justice must be done to maintain the integrity of all disabled people at the rehabilitation center. “It isn't only my son's case, it's for every disabled person,” the father said. Lawyer Waeel Ba-Faqih, who voluntarily took up the case against the center, said the supervisor's motives to punish the disabled man, whether true or not, did not give him the right to physically abuse him. “He can't be the plaintiff and the judge at the same time,” he said. If Al-Juhani did anything wrong, the supervisor could have simply written a report to the management to take action, he added. The supervisor's claims are “ridiculous,” the lawyer said, blaming the supervisor for falling short of his main duty to take care of a man with a disability. Even worse, he abused a man who was supposed to be well taken care, Ba
