Faisal, Emir of Makkah, has ordered fresh investigation into the riot at a women's correctional facility here after it was discovered that previous investigators had allegedly tried to withhold some information on the state of the institution and the treatment of its inmates. The Emir ordered the formation of a “neutral” committee to conduct the probe after he had examined the previous reports from a committee formed by the Ministry of Social Affairs, according to an official from the ministry. He said the decision was taken after the discovery that the report was amended seven times to hide certain information. The facility was recently the scene of a riot by women inmates after it emerged that they were being treated poorly, had limited access to medical care, were denied access to families, were often held in solitary confinement and were beaten by women guards. Preliminary probes by the National Society for Human Rights and the Bureau for Investigation and Prosecution supported the claims of the women inmates. The social affairs ministry in particular had come under fire from Saudi human rights groups for failing to deal with the issues at the facility and trying to coverup the problems experienced by inmates, including transferring witnesses during the investigation. The ministry had denied the allegations. The ministry official conceded that the main problem at the ministry was the distribution of responsibility which led to delayed and poor decision-making. He said the ministry had failed to act even after it had received complaints from two master's degree social workers on poor conditions at the facility. This led to the social workers compiling a 12-page report on all problems faced by the women inmates and led to an investigation by a committee composed of the social affairs ministry and five of its administrative departments.
