The Interior Ministry has given SR10 million to 13 former prisoners in compensation for being kept imprisoned more time than their original sentences. The maximum amount received by an inmate is SR2 million, while the minimum SR59,000.

Fahd Abdullah Al-Bakran, Justice Ministry spokesman, said the Specialized Criminal Court issued the compensatory provisions for the 13 ex-prisoners. “Inmates who agreed on the compensatory sums accepted the money without taking the issue to court,” he said. Plaintiffs who did not accept the sum will be able to file a case against the Interior Ministry to claim higher amounts.

An amended clause in the Kingdom’s criminal law states that the detention period must be part of the sentence and that convicts have the right to claim compensation if they are detained beyond their sentence periods.

“Those plaintiffs who were detained for fake charges or spent more than the period of sentence in prison can demand compensation by filing lawsuits at the court that originally looked into their cases,” he explained.