Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - A Saudi Arabian high court has ordered a new trial for two officers from the religious police who were acquitted in the death of a man taken into custody after a raid to find alcohol in his home, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
The Saudi Cassation Court ordered the new trial into Sulaiman al-Huraisi's death in May because of "mistakes" in the original one, defense lawyer Raiq Badawi was quoted as saying by the daily Okaz. Like all Saudi newspapers Okaz is government-guided, with red lines usually drawn around sensitive topics, and it did not elaborate on the reported mistakes.
The high court ordered the judge who acquitted the officers to question witnesses and members of the religious police in the new trial, the newspaper reported.
A Riyadh general court acquitted the officers in November in the death of al-Huraisi, a 28-year-old security guard.
A unit from the Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which employs the religious police, raided al-Huraisi's house in Riyadh in May 2007 because they suspected he had alcohol, which is illegal in Saudi Arabia.
Witnesses at the time reported the religious police beat al-Huraisi and that he was bleeding heavily when taken into custody.
Ali al-Huraisi, the deceased man's brother, told Okaz that the family has been informed of the decision by the Saudi top court.
The al-Huraisi trial was one of two prominent cases against the powerful commission.
The other involved the death of Ahmed al-Bulaiwi, a retired border patrol guard who died in police custody after his June 1, 2007, arrest for being alone with a woman who was not a relative - an act considered an offense in the kingdom. A court dropped charges last July against three members of the religious police and a regular police officer accused in the case.
The deaths provoked a public outcry against the commission, with calls for its reform. The commission is charged with enforcing the kingdom's strict Islamic mores.