JEDDAH, 1 February 2006 — The infamous “Al-Nahda Tunnel” sexual harassment trial came to an end on Monday when the Supreme Court in Riyadh issued a guilty verdict against the 11 accused youth.
Nine Saudis and two Palestinians were sentenced to between four months and 12 years in prison and 300 to 600 lashes. The defendants are accused of involvement in a widely publicized sexual harassment crime against two teenage girls that occurred in October in a pedestrian tunnel in Riyadh. The defendants have up to 13 days to appeal the decision.
Saad ibn Zuair, attorney of the three of the accused youth, told Arab News that the judge’s ruling contradicts previous statements that he made during the trial.
“At the beginning of the hearing the judge confessed that the prosecution has no clear evidence that the juveniles were at the crime scene,” said Zuair.
The lawyer also claims that a witness confessed later that he was forced by the prosecution to give a testimony they wanted to hear.
One of the perpetrators captured the incident of harassment digitally. The footage was later distributed via Bluetooth and posted on the Internet where it was downloaded by thousands. A group of young Saudis recognized some of the perpetrators on the footage and took their information to a local newspaper. Police then detained suspects based on the evidence of the video footage.
The suspects were charged with sexual harassment. In five hearings, the judges heard the juveniles’ testimonies and the witnesses who identified them in the digital clip.
“My clients are innocent,” said Zuair, adding that their only crime is that they use to hang out in the area that the accident took place in.
The lawyer said the youths were being used as “scapegoats” to calm those who were shocked by the indecent video footage.
