Saudi Appellate Court Orders Retrial of Religious Police Defendants

Today's International Herald Tribune reports that in Saudi Arabia, the Cassation Court has overturned a not guilty verdict entered by a lower court against two members of the country's religious police force. The two had been accused in the death of Sulaiman al-Huraisi, a security guard who died in custody of the Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice after its raid on al-Huraisi's home looking for alcohol and drugs. (See prior posting.) The new decision, citing mistakes in the original trial, orders the Riyadh lower court judge who issued the initial verdict to question witnesses and members of the religious police again.