RIYADH, 16 March 2008 — A South African nurse who went missing on Nov. 20 and was later found in a prison has been sent back to her country by Saudi authorities.
“Dannelene Noach flew from Riyadh to Cape Town to an emotional reunion after having spent months in detention at Al-Hair maximum security prison here, while family and friends tried to locate her,” said South African Ambassador John Davies, here yesterday.
Noach had been working as a clinical coordinator at King Abdulaziz Medical City here and allegedly had submitted a report exposing various irregularities at a hospital clinic, implicating top hospital executives and workers.
The diplomat refused to give the full account of the case, but another diplomatic source, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that the nurse became a target “while conducting an audit of a hospital’s clinic, exposing irregularities.”
The woman was reportedly accused of performing black magic, a charge in Saudi Arabia can lead to arrest and punishment.
The diplomat, while giving a brief account of the treatment and incarceration meted out to the nurse, said that Noach was not initially taken to the prison.
“In fact, after nine hours of interrogation, Noach was transferred to a local hotel where she was held for six weeks before she was formally taken to Al-Hair jail,” said Noach-Pienaar, the nurse’s daughter, in a statement.
