Saudi Arabia: Hail woman found brutally raped and murdered

Dubai: Two Saudi men have been arrested on suspicion of the kidnap, rape and murder of a young woman who went missing from her family’s home in Hail city on September 3, local media reported on Tuesday.

The Hail Police were called to a traditional house in Hail, in northwestern Saudi Arabia, where 19-year-old Latifa Mohammed Al Enazi was found dead. The house is owned by one of the suspects.

“Policemen, ambulances and forensic experts rushed to the scene where the woman was found dead, with blood and bruises all over her body,” Captain Tariq Al Nassar, Media spokesperson for Hail Police, said.

The victim’s grieving family appealed for public help in finding her when she went missing earlier this month, as she was seriously ill with cancer.

Immediately after officers announced the news of the death, the victim’s mother appeared in a video on social media appealing to King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and the Prince of Hail to form a committee to probe the killing of her daughter, known by local media as the “Hail Missing Woman”.

The heartbroken mother said: “I appeal to King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, the Crown Prince and the Prince of Hail, I am the mother of Latifa Mohammed Al Enazi, who was murdered in Hail. My daughter was kidnapped, raped and murdered, I want her killers to be prosecuted and brought to justice.”

She accused the Hail regional police of covering up the crime because they belong to the same tribe as the murderer, demanding an investigation by an independent committee.

The mother’s video went viral on social media as users reacted with emphasis on the just judiciary system in Saudi Arabia under the leadership of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

The officers and experts who examined the crime scene found marks on the woman’s body, indicating she was brutally assaulted. Investigations are still underway with the suspects, believed to be in their 30s.

Captain Al Nassar said: “The competent authorities on Sunday arrested two Saudi men, in their 30s, immediately after receiving a report on the presence of a young woman, who was in coma, with traces of blood and injuries all over her body, in a traditional house owned by one of the suspects.”

The forensic medicine experts who examined the woman found her already dead, with evidence that a crime had taken place, he added.

Legal action has been taken to refer them to the Public Prosecution. They have been detained pending further investigation and trial.