Saudi Arabia: 1,500 prisoners released

Cairo: Saudi public prosecution has released more than 1,500 prisoners across the kingdom due to lack of legal grounds for jailing them, according to a media report.

The mass release is part of efforts to safeguard rights of prisoners and related guarantees, Al Arabiya television said.

The public prosecution has pledged to continue inspection visits to jailing places to verify compliance with legal procedures.

“The Prison Oversight Department is independently undertaking its assignments regarding verification of arrest legality as well as supervising the enforcement of disciplinary rulings,” the public prosecution said on its Twitter account.

Officials in charge of overseeing jails conduct surprise visits to prisons and remand sites to make sure that no one is incarcerated without legal reasons, listen to inmates’ complaints and check jail records, Saudi newspaper Okaz reported, citing unidentified sources.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has taken several steps to reform its legal system.