The Administrative Court in Asir has issued a verdict obliging the region's Emir's Office and, the governorate of Ahad Rufaidah to pay a man a compensation of SR14,000 for detaining him for 49 days without a trial. According to the verdict, the detention of Mousa Muhammad Awad was not based on a court decision. The man was held before the claims of his housemaid were verified. The housemaid claimed her payments after escaping from the employer's house and after investigations it was found out that the amount claimed by her was already paid to her. Awad said her housemaid caused “many problems” before escaping. He said he reported the escape to the police and later he was arrested at his work on the orders of Ahad Rufaidah governor. “I was detained for no reason then released, then detained again. I was detained for 49 days on different occasions during the two-year trial period,” Awad said. The administrative court's verdict stipulates that “any one must not be detained, searched or jailed except in accordance with the law. The detention must be in allocated places and for periods defined by the competent authority. It also stipulates that any detention is based only on a final court verdict.
