A PhD student has lost her appeal after being found guilty of slapping a policeman and ruining his police uniform in a drunken rage and was not let out on bail despite suffering from a brain tumour.
The Saudi woman’s defence team attempted to have her released from prison due to her health condition, submitting medical documents to judges as evidence but the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court upheld her jail time.
In September, the High Criminal Court sentenced the 30-year-old mother to a year in prison on charges of assaulting two officers, publicly disrespecting them and intentionally destroying property.
The appellant earlier stated she ‘suddenly awoke’ in a hospital following a wild night out drinking with a female friend and could not remember her actions.
She told the Public Prosecution she found herself in the General Directorate of Traffic while still under the influence and undergoing an alcohol test.
After taking the test, she tried to leave the premises.
“When we stopped her from leaving, she cursed at us, then she pushed me to the metal gate and slapped me on the face,” a police officer earlier testified, adding that she also tore his uniform.
The officers called Women Police colleagues to arrest her and when another policeman escorted her to the patrol, she slammed the vehicle door on his hand repeatedly, the court heard.
The woman’s defence used many arguments in an attempt to win her release from custody, highlighting the fact that she had a tumour and mental health concerns.
In an official letter issued by a Dammam hospital, a doctor warned that the pituitary gland tumour ‘is growing more and more dangerous to her health’ and that she needs to undergo an operation to remove it ‘as soon as possible’.
The woman also earlier appeared before judges, begging for a ‘second chance’.
She was convicted on six charges of insulting and harming civil servants and members of the defence forces.
The appeals judges upheld the conviction, with prosecutors stating that the arguments were ‘excuses’ and that her behaviour was ‘unacceptable regardless of her situation’.
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