Article 28 of the Saudi Prisons and Detention Law

This article establishes explicit protection for prisoners and detainees:

First: a comprehensive prohibition

Assault on prisoners or detainees of any kind is not permitted. The text is general and does not limit the prohibition to a particular type.

Second: accountability of the employee who commits assault

• Disciplinary action is taken against civilian or military employees who commit any aggression against a prisoner or detainee.
• Disciplinary action does not prevent the imposition of criminal penalties on them in cases where the assault is a crime; that is, disciplinary and criminal accountability may both apply.

The article does not specify the type of disciplinary penalties or criminal penalties; these appear in other laws that the text does not mention.

This article comes directly after Article (27), which permits the use of firearms in two specific cases, repelling an attack or forceful resistance and preventing escape, when other means fail, and after firing into the air first. The principle is therefore the prohibition of assault, and what Article (27) permits is limited to its cases and conditions. It is followed by Article (29), which punishes bringing weapons and drugs into prisons and smuggling prisoners out.

Anyone whose relative has been subjected to assault inside a prison or detention facility would do well to consult a lawyer who specializes in criminal cases to learn the available legal channels.