Al-Jaberiya School Case Suspect Remanded in Custody

The Fourth High Criminal Court has remanded Al-Jaberiya School case suspect for another 45 days in custody pending investigation. The 18-year-old Al-Jaberiya Secondary Technical School student is being tried over charges of taking part in an authorized gathering, arson and damaging a police patrol and civilian cars. The suspect was arrested, along with another person, and were referred to the Public Prosecution. During investigations, he denied involvement in gatherings, but the Public Prosecution charged him with setting fire for the aim of putting people’s lives and property under risk, assaulting an on-duty policeman, participating in an illegal gathering involving more than five people to disrupt public order using violence, and deliberate destruction of security patrols and civilian cars. The Education Ministry said that a number of students were involved in acts of sabotage because they were being investigated with, and wanted to shed light on themselves. The ministry added that saboteurs started shouting and then destroyed desks and chairs, pelted stones, threw iron rods and set up barricades around the school in an attempt to provoke security forces. It asserted that not vandals belonged to Al-Jabiriya School, noting that many of them from outside it and climbed the school fence as students were entering in the morning. It affirmed that saboteurs prevented students from entering classrooms and chanted anti-state slogans, but despite that a great number of students did not respond to those calls and joined their classes. The Ministry of Education stressed that the policemen stayed outside the school and did not respond to provocative attempts to urge them to go inside the education institution, noting that the security forces dealt with saboteurs outside the school and used tear gas to disperse them because they blocked roads leading to it and prevented access to it.