Abdul Rahman bin Hassan Abdullah was released after a schoolteacher was recently arrested and a DNA test as well as victims’ statements strongly linked him to the attacks.

“I will not relinquish my legal right to compensation. I am innocent and would never commit such heinous crimes,” he told local Arabic daily Al-Madinah.

Abdullah said he was proven innocent after the rapist carried out two attacks while he was still behind bars. He said he was suspected because he resembled the alleged attacker and drove the same car as him.

Abdullah recalled that he was arrested in the village of Al-Hijrah in Baha province on Dec. 22, 2010, and initially put in solitary confinement for five days in Jeddah's Briman prison, where he was detained since.

Abdullah has two wives and four children, two boys and two girls.

“My wives helped very much in my ordeal. They sent messages to the concerned officials and followed up my case until my acquittal. They always believed that I was innocent,” he said.

Abdullah recalled that he was arrested and taken to the department of investigation at police headquarters in Jeddah. He said he was confronted with the charges which he categorically denied.

“I had the same car model used by the rapist when he committed his first crime. This made the police suspect that I was the real criminal,” he said.

Abdullah denied that the pornographic pictures and clips found in his mobile were his.

“I bought the mobile a few days before my arrest. I did not know that it contained such graphic pictures. There were no pictures of any of the victims,” he said.

Abdullah said investigators eventually took him to Al-Thaghr Hospital in Jeddah and asked him to walk down the corridors.

“They wanted to be sure that I was the suspect who appeared in hospital cameras. The pictures and the lab tests proved that the rapist was a different man,” he said.

He also said the real rapist was a shisha smoker and had a house in Jeddah. “I do not smoke shisha and do not own any house in Jeddah,” he said.

Abdullah added police brought one of the victims who told them it was not him who attacked her.

“The false allegations hurt me and my family, causing us immense damage. I will have to be compensated,” he said.

Meanwhile, Al-Watan newspaper reported Tuesday the number of victims had risen after three girls, two Saudis and a Yemeni, told police they had also been attacked by the rapist.