JEDDAH: The recently detained assistant mayor of Jeddah is very much alive despite reports suggesting otherwise, his family said on Thursday.
Jamal Abu Omarah, who is also the former president of Al-Ittihad football club, has been in custody for his alleged neglect that contributed to so many people dying in November’s flooding crisis in the city.
The online media had reported he had died while being detained.
According to local reports, his brother Omar visited him in Dhahban prison, north of Jeddah, and found him to be in good health.
“Reports about his death are premature. The prison authorities have been providing my brother with consummate health care,” Omar told local Arabic daily Al-Watan.
He said the number of calls inquiring about whether his brother was dead or not has amazed him.
Jamal and a number of other municipality officials have been detained on orders by the committee investigating the Jeddah flooding disaster and whether its high death toll could have been prevented.
The committee was established on orders by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah under the chairmanship of Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal. The prince has reportedly said the committee would soon submit a report about its findings to the king.
Abdul Rahman Al-Hazza, undersecretary for media affairs at the Ministry of Culture and Information, said the ministry was considering implementing regulations for the online media, according to Al-Watan.
