Saudi imprisons ex-public security head for 25 years for corruption, group says

The former head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Security agency has reportedly been sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment, in one of the latest anti-corruption cases ruled on in the kingdom.

According to Prisoners of Conscience, a Twitter account which tracks and observes the situation of Saudi detainees, Lieutenant General Khaled Bin Qarar Al-Harbi was handed a sentence of 25 years in prison on charges of corruption and abuse of power.

🔴 Confirmed to us that the former Director of Public Security, Colonel General Khaled bin Qarar Al-Harbi؛ sentenced to 25 years in prison, after he was referred to retirement and investigated on September 7, 2021. pic.twitter.com/rGB5UeiWSs

— Prisoners of Conscience (@m3takl_en) December 26, 2022

Having served as Public Security director since December 2018, Al-Harbi was dismissed from his position and arrested in September last year, with King Salman Bin Abdulaziz issuing a royal decree referring him for investigation on corruption charges.

Accused of “seizing public money for personal benefit…forgery, bribery and abuse of power”, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the decree stated that “the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority [Nazaha] shall complete the investigation procedures with everyone involved in this [case], and take the necessary legal measures against them.”

Saudi authorities have neither released a statement on the case nor confirmed the sentence and the Prisoners of Conscience account did not state its sources, MEMO is unable to verify its veracity.

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