A district chief (or Umda) in Madina has filed a lawsuit with the Administrative Court against Madina police for allegedly investigating him unfairly, which has damaged his reputation among fellow chiefs. The chief of Bin Muawya District in Madina, Fahd Al-Awfi, has sued the Madina Police Department for SR5 million in compensation for moral damage. The court is scheduled to hear the case on Feb. 16. The chief, whose official job is to oversee the wellbeing of his district and to mediate in neighbors' disputes, said he filed a complaint with the police against a foreign illegal resident of the district, but the police did not take his case seriously. Al-Awfi said he had verified information that the man used “forged” residency documents. “When I checked with the Passports Department about him, they told me that he had left the Kingdom for a short visit back home,” he said. When the man came back to the Kingdom, Al-Awfi reported the man to the police and he was arrested, but he was released after he submitted his “forged” papers, claims Al-Awfi. Al-Awfi went back to the Passports Department where he was told that the man re-entered the Kingdom in July 2009 through the Salwa Border Post along the border with Qatar. “I provided this new information to the police, but I was treated like a troublemaker and even worse, like a criminal,” he said. Al-Awfi said he filed a complaint with the Chief of General Security about the case requesting detention of those responsible for freeing a foreigner with “forged” documents. Al-Awfi has been suspended from his job, supervised by the district police, which has made him take his case to court.
