Two members of two human rights organizations campaigned to have the case reopened because they believed Al-Johani had been murdered.
“Dr. Al-Johani’s family told us they believed foul play was behind his death and he was not a victim of a medical error,” said Ihab Al-Sulaimani and Talat Attar of Amnesty International and the Arab Organization for Human Rights respectively in a statement issued yesterday morning.
Al-Sulaimani and Attar said after studying files on the doctor’s death they strongly suspected criminal involvement in the incident.
The statement said the new crime sheet listed 20 people suspected to have carried out, participated in, instigated, served as accomplices or financed Al-Johani’s alleged murder.
They included businessmen, doctors, nurses, lawyers and medical technicians, the statement added.
The two activists also commended the government’s keenness to deliver justice to even the most insignificant citizen.
“We are confident that the investigations will be fair and transparent and will deliver the truth,” the statement said.
Al-Johani, who was head of the dentistry department at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah, died after an operation in a private hospital in North Jeddah in December 2009.
He was kept alive for 22 days after the surgery in a state of coma and hospital authorities said his death occurred as a result of a medical error committed by an anesthetist.
A statement from the hospital management following the death said the anesthetist involved in Al-Johani’s operation who was also the wife of a consultant at the hospital was suspended and her assistant sacked.
