YANBU: The Court of Grievances in Madinah yesterday upheld its earlier verdict sentencing 10 people to two years in jail for assaulting a group of schoolteachers in Al-Mrameia, 280 km from Yanbu, two years ago.
The 10 convicted include three students of the Mrameiah Secondary School, their three cousins and four police officers. The initial ruling was made in November last year. The group attacked the teachers when they refused to change the poor grades that some students had received in their first term examinations.
The police officers involved had threatened to harass the teachers and the school’s principal unless they accepted the students’ demands. This resulted in the teachers complaining to the Court of Grievances.
The Investigations and Prosecutions Committee in Madinah investigated the case and found the officers had misused their authority.
In addition to the two-year jail term, each of the four officers was ordered to pay fines of SR20,000 for violating the public right. They will also face disciplinary action from the police administration. The Education Department had suspended the students for one year and allowed them to continue their studies thereafter at another school.
