NAJRAN: Investigations which began in Ramadan into a carer for the disabled in Najran have acquitted him of sexually assaulting girls at the center where he worked, Al-Watan Arabic daily reported Friday. Jizan Police had charged the foreign man with photographing disabled girls while having sex with them and said he had confessed to the charges. An official source told Al-Watan, however, that investigators in Riyadh had now established that the images had no connection with the center, adding that the Emir of Najran Prince Mishal had ordered that the persons responsible for issuing the original official statement concerning the incident be punished for their actions. “The Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution is extremely concerned about the hastiness with which the statement was issued and is determined to see those responsible punished accordingly,” the sources said. The original statement in Ramadan, released by the spokesman for Jizan Police, Abdullah Al-Ashwai, said that the accused had confessed to sexually assaulting disabled girls at the Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled and that investigators had found in his possession corroborating pornographic images. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Abdullah Al-Bargi, the director of the center, both strongly denied the incident at the time, saying that the images were unconnected to the center, a position now confirmed by the Criminal Evidence Department in Riyadh. Parents and guardians of girls at the center say they intend to sue the officials who “irresponsibly rushed to release false information about the incident”.
