JEDDAH, 4 December 2006 — A Saudi was an ex-convict for less than an hour before finding himself back into trouble with the law, the daily Okaz reported on Saturday. The man in his late twenties hailed a taxi from Jeddah’s Briman prison and asked to be taken back to his family’s house in south Jeddah. On the way, the man noticed somebody walking with a cell phone. He asked the cab driver to stop for a few moments, exited the cab, followed his victim for a few meters, snatched the phone, returned to the taxi, and asked the man to drive on. It would have been a clean break had it not been for an unmarked patrol car nearby that witnessed the phone snatching. Less than an hour from being discharged from the prison, the man was back in custody, being held for a trial he’s very likely to lose, considering the witnesses to the crime.
