RIYADH, 24 April 2004 — Thirteen people, including prison officials, were injured after a fire broke out in Al-Hair Jail on the southern edge of the capital yesterday morning.
According to a prison official, the fire affected the inmates of Cell No. 14. Of the 13 prisoners in the cell, nine were rushed to hospital with smoke inhalation. “They are all safe and sound,” the official said in a statement. The blaze reportedly started in the juvenile section of the prison and was quickly extinguished by the Civil Defense.
Al-Hair Jail, which has some 3,500 inmates, was the scene of a major fire in September last year, which killed 68 inmates.
As a result the Ministry of the Interior recently sacked the director of prisons in the Riyadh region and the chief of Al-Hair Jail and suspended several jailers.
An inquiry established that the fire was started deliberately by an inmate who set a blanket ablaze, according to an Interior Ministry official.
The prisoner, who was identified as Saad Fehaid Al-Subaie, will be put on trial.
Based on the inquiry, a royal decree ordered SR100,000 to be paid to each of the families of the victims, who included 51 Saudis and 17 expatriates.
