JEDDAH, 11 June 2006 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday ordered the release of prisoners, including expatriates, held for petty crimes in all parts of the Kingdom and the payment of the debts and indemnities of people detained for violating private rights, the Saudi Press Agency reported, quoting a royal court statement.
The humanitarian gestures came on the occasion of Abdullah’s visit to the Eastern Province and a number of other regions, his first after becoming the king in August 2005. “The king issued his order for the payment of debts and blood money on behalf of people detained for violating private rights,” the royal court said.
The king also declared amnesty for “some prisoners held in jails all over the Kingdom for violating public rights,” the statement said, adding that the amnesty would not cover those who had committed big crimes or those who posed a threat to security.
“The royal decree has exempted from the amnesty those (criminals) serving jail sentences for big crimes or legal punishments or those detainees who are expected to serve legal punishments or whose crimes had resulted in the violation of a private right,” it added.
Detainees who had run away from jails before or after court verdicts will not qualify for the amnesty,” the royal court said, adding that the decree does not discriminate against Saudis and expatriates. “The king hopes that the gesture would encourage such prisoners to reform themselves and keep away from committing such petty crimes in the future,” the statement said.
The king has already instructed Interior Minister Prince Naif to implement his orders in accordance with the above conditions. With regard to the payment of debts, the decree instructed authorities to make sure that such prisoners were unable to pay them and not simply evading payment or playing with public money. They should also check whether the debt was the result of a crime.
“This generous order by the king will release a large number of people detained, especially expatriates,” said lawyer Omar Al-Khouli. “The system does not allow imprisoning insolvent debtors, but the reality is different.”
Al-Khouli said there are people who completed their prison sentences but remain in jail over the violation of their victim’s (or victim’s family’s) private right because they are unable to pay their debt or blood money.
Abdullah Abulsamh, a senior member of the quasi-governmental National Society for Human Rights and among the team that visited prisons in Saudi Arabia last year and filed a report about them, agreed that this order would affect many of the prisoners. “We found a large number of detainees being held over the issue of private rights. The important thing about this generous order is that it included expatriates,” he said.
These expatriates remain in jail even after serving their terms because their iqamas have expired and their sponsors do not want to renew them.
