RIYADH, 4 July 2007 — The attorney representing the family of the deceased Ahmed Al-Bulawi — a retired Saudi man who died at one of the centers of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Tabuk — intends to officially request the judges presiding over the trial case of four accused commission members for another autopsy. The next date in the trial has been set for July 11, according to the attorney for the family of the victim.
Speaking to Arab News from Tabuk, Ouda Al-Bulawi, the attorney representing the deceased’s family (not related), said that family members were not convinced with the first official autopsy report. On Monday the lawyer told Arab News that the existing report has been withheld from the plaintiffs in the case, Bulawi’s family.
“The autopsy report shows that the deceased was beaten in his face,” said the lawyer. “There is a mark on his face that was mentioned in the report. But the report did not mention the object that hit him or how it happened.”
The deceased, a retired 50-year-old border guard, was apprehended by a part-time commission member in Tabuk after he was spotted picking up a woman, reportedly in her 50s, near an amusement park. Both he and the woman were arrested and taken to the Sultan Commission Center. The man later collapsed at the center and died. It was later established that the deceased used to work for the woman’s family as a driver who drove them on errands for extra cash.
The official medical examiner’s report in the investigation case cleared commission members of any fault in the death. The report said the man had a heart attack and died of medical conditions. The family contends that this is a case of homicide due to negligence, harassment and the fact that the man was breaking no law when he was arrested. The virtue commission also agrees that Bulawi was not in a state of “illegal seclusion” with the woman. In Saudi Arabia, it is illegal for a woman of any age to be in the isolated company of an unrelated man — in this case inside a vehicle — unless accompanied by her legal male guardian, known as a mahram, who must be a relative by birth or marriage. Bulawi was working part time as a driver of the family of the woman to supplement his retirement pension. The family is demanding the death penalty for the person responsible for the death of their kin.
The case has been transferred to a religious court from the General Investigation and Prosecution Authority (GIPA) where four commission members will stand trial for their alleged mistakes committed during the apprehension. Yesterday was the second hearing in the trial of the four accused commission members involved in the case. “The judges have again listened to the charge sheet and received the written responses from the four accused,” said the attorney.
He said that only two of the written responses were officially included in the trial case for submission due to the narrowness of time.
He also said that he was “aggravated” that the judges had allowed the four accused commission members to be once again released on bail until the third hearing starts.
“I intend to take this matter up with officials or with the governorate,” he said.
In another case related to death in the custody of the commission, the family of Salman Al-Huraisi — a Saudi man who was allegedly beaten to death by a commission member after 18 official members stormed his house last month in Riyadh on suspicion of possessing and distributing alcohol — are waiting for a response to a telegram they have sent on Monday to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
The family is requesting King Abdullah’s intervention in the case so officials in the GIPA could give them a copy of the official autopsy report of Al-Huraisi’s body. As of yesterday, GIPA has refused to submit them any copy, saying that it was classified and that only a death certificate would be released for the burial of the body.
According to Al-Huraisi’s attorney who reviewed the medical report, Al-Huraisi was severely beaten in various parts of his body. Two powerful blows to his head had caused one of his eyes to pop out and the other causing a crack 6 cm deep which caused part of the victim’s brain to come out.
