Two defendants sentenced for coercing an individual to sign promissory notes worth 30,000 dinars

The Court of Appeal upheld the acquittal of a defendant in a case involving allegations of detention, extortion, coercion to sign promissory notes, and theft of a civil ID card. The court also ruled to accept the appeals filed by the Public Prosecution and the first and second defendants on procedural grounds, and on the merits, to modify the appealed judgment by overturning the decision to refrain from imposing a sentence, and to sentence the first and second defendants to four years’ imprisonment with labor for the charges against them related to conspiracy, and to deport the second defendant from the country after serving his sentence, while upholding the judgment in all other respects.

Previously, the Public Prosecution had charged the first, second, and third defendants with detaining the victim inside one of the defendants’ majlis, threatening him with a weapon, coercing him to sign three promissory notes worth 30,000 dinars, and seizing his civil ID card with the intent to extort him financially. The fourth defendant was charged with threatening the victim via the WhatsApp application to demand money based on those promissory notes. During the appeal proceedings, lawyer Abdullah Al-Alanda, acting as counsel for the third defendant, maintained the validity of the first-instance judgment that acquitted his client.