al-Ha’ir Prison Fire Saudi Arabia 2003
In Saudi Arabia, prison sentences and/or incarceration can be for offenses ranging from terrorism to religious dissension, possession of alcoholic beverages, possession of pornography, and a host of other what the regime designates as crimes. al-Ha’ir Prison is a maximum security facility which housed several hundred inmates convicted of crimes and those detained for various violations in 2003, though Saudi officials later denied that any persons suspected of terrorism were held within the prison.
In September 2003 the prison was ravaged by a fire which killed 67 inmates and injured more than 20 others held in the prison, as well as three security guards. Saudi officials immediately established road blocks outside the prison, preventing access by media and relatives of those held in the prison, and issued reports that the fire was accidental. Western media had speculated that the fire may have been the result of arson by an individual or group of suspected members of Al Qaeda, following a recent roundup of suspects following a series of attacks around Riyadh.
In the aftermath of the fire groups in England opposing the Saudi government questioned the official death toll and announced that sources from Dubai had informed them that over 144 inmates had died in the blaze, which had occurred several hours before the time frame announced by the Saudi government. The group also claimed that the high death toll was a result of prison officials placing security over the safety of inmates when handling the fire, since many of the inmates within the prison were in fact Al Qaeda members, held in maximum security areas not damaged by the fire.
Security forces had stopped and searched arriving firefighters and ambulances, delaying their response time fighting the fire and providing emergency medical services to those injured or overcome by smoke and toxic gases. According to the reports from sources in Dubai, prison security had also prevented inmates from fleeing the immediate area of the fire to safer areas within the prison, keeping all prisoners locked down in their assigned areas. The sources also reported that the fire had been deliberately set by inmates to draw attention to the conditions within the Saudi prison system.
The Saudi prison system has been plagued with several fires over the last 20 years, but Saudi officials said within hours that the al-Ha’ir fire was the worst in the country’s history in terms of deaths, and within days issued statements concluding that the fire was accidental. According to the Saudis the fire which killed 67 prisoners started by the accidental ignition of a foam mattress.