JEDDAH, 16 March 2005 — Last Friday, I was stopped on the Makkah Expressway. The traffic police claimed that I had been driving at 120 km/h. When I questioned this, he told me that he would write a ticket and then let me go. He took my license and car registration and told me to follow him. He drove to a police station where I was then told to leave my car and accompany him in the police vehicle. I did so and we then went to the jail.
There were other offenders there and we were all told to hand our mobile phones to security. We were then led to a room that was 8 by 5 meters and were informed that we would be detained there for 24 hours after which we would be fined. The room was empty except for three airconditioners though only one was functioning. There was no ventilation.
There were also two bathrooms with overflowing sewage. The bathrooms were filthy and totally unusable; flies and mosquitoes were everywhere. The floor in the room was so dirty that we hesitated to sit on it. There was no place for anyone to sleep since the jail was so overcrowded. One of the detainees had managed to bring a deck of cards with him; the cards provided a short period of amusement until a policeman took them away. “This is a jail and not a recreational facility,” he said.
On the walls were drawings, suggestions of love and passion and other suggestive comments. There were more than 46 people who had been detained; the reasons for their detention ranged from speeding to running red lights. None of them were criminals by any stretch of the imagination and should certainly have at least been held in a clean, uncrowded room with minimum furniture, proper sanitation and ventilation.
Khaled Al-Malki, one of those detained, teaches at the Industrial Institute. He said: “They’ve not just caused me an inconvenience but my students as well.” Eighteen-year old Muhammad Al-Nabaawi said he had a test at the Saudi Japanese Automobile High Institute (SJAHI). “I tried to explain this to the traffic policeman but he paid no attention,” he explained.
When we asked for food from one of the policemen, he sent a janitor to take our “orders” and our money; prices were of course double what we would normally have paid.
Ahmad Al-Hakami said he had been on his way to sign his wedding contract which had been scheduled for 9 p.m. Relatives and guests as well as the bride were all waiting to celebrate the occasion. He was arrested at 7:30 and tried to explain his situation to the policeman but to no avail. Ahmad spent 18 hours in jail.
“I’d received a call from my wife telling me that my son was very sick and needed to go to the hospital,” said Abdullah Al-Otaibi. “I explained this to the policeman but got nowhere.”
Some of those arrested were able to leave after a few hours because of “connections” but for those who were “connectionless,” it was 24 hours in jail.
