MADINAH: A team of seven lawyers has volunteered to pursue a pollution class-action lawsuit by 600 residents of Hamra Al-Assad that had been dismissed by a court in Madinah on Tuesday.
In a suit filed last year, the residents of this suburban district of Madinah accused local leather factories of polluting their water supply.
“We seven lawyers, specialized in handling environmental issues in various parts of the Kingdom, have formed a coalition to defend the local residents pro bono,” Muhammad Al-Wasmi, one of the seven lawyers, said. “A court can act only on the basis of definitive evidence that establish a link between the pollution and the residents’ woes. We will strive to submit that evidence to the appeals court in collaboration with Saud Al-Hujaili, the lawyer representing citizens who filed the class-action case.”
In a separate statement, Al-Hujaili said he was waiting for the copy of the verdict made by the judge of the 21st Circuit Court in Madinah to start the appeal procedures.
He also expressed his surprise at the decision, which just rejected the residents’ plea without giving a reason for the judgment or even specifying if there was any pollution in the area or not.
The Science Department at Taiba University had confirmed the public concern about contaminated water, but local officials rejected its findings.
The citizens have brought charges against the Madinah Municipality, the Madinah branch of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment.
The citizens have accused government agencies of obstructing justice. Newspaper reports with pictures taken from the area embarrassed the municipality, which had denied the existence of any industrial pollution in the city.
Though PME acknowledged the dumping of hazardous waste in some parts of the district, it did not believe that the waste caused contamination of underground water in the region.
