He said the registration of his name among the dead seven years ago by the department delayed his efforts to get employed and married.

“I have been looking for a job since 2001 after completing secondary education. In 2004, I found a job, but the department which wanted to employ me said they found my name on the list of the dead, according to information provided by the Civil Affairs Department,” he said.

Al-Motairy then approached the department in Jeddah, which informed him that his name was registered among the dead by mistake and that it would be corrected.

“But days and months have passed without the department making any changes, although the file has been sent to Riyadh. This forced me to file a petition against the department at the Court of Grievances,” Okaz Arabic daily quoted him as saying.

Al-Motairy said he was facing many problems due to the department’s mistake. Recently, he was stopped by the highway police and when they checked his details they found he was among the dead and they suspected that he forged his civil ID.

“They kept me for three hours and allowed me to leave only after contacting the Civil Affairs Department to understand whether my case was genuine.”

Ghazi Al-Bishri, director of the department in Jeddah, said Al-Motairy’s file has been sent to the undersecretary for civil affairs at the Interior Ministry to make the correction. “Al-Motairy’s was registered by mistake to be dead ever since the death of his father but he did not approach us to correct the mistake,” Al-Bishri said.