Jordanian awarded SR4.3m for unlawful detention

Jeddah’s Administrative Court has ordered the General Directorate of Prisons to pay a former Jordanian inmate SR4.3 million in compensation for having unlawfully detained him three years longer than his prison sentence.
The defendant had originally been sentenced to one year at Briman Prison for forgery and was supposed to be released on Dec. 3, 2011.
The prison, however, refused to release him on the grounds that the deportation ruling was still pending.
Legal counselor Mohammad Al-Thaali confirmed that the directorate unlawfully extended the detention period after misinterpreting the deportation decision and process.
“Prisons have no right to extend prison sentences based on a specific article within a criminal law that stipulates that prisons are only meant for serving time and not making decisions on the fate of prisoners.”
The lawyer will submit an appeal on the verdict, demanding, instead, more than SR15.5 million in compensation, or SR15,000 per each additional day the defendant had been unlawfully held.
The ex-inmate had filed the compensation claim himself.
The ruling, issued by a criminal court at the Board of Grievances, had been delivered in three parts.