Three detainees injured in a fire in a prison in al-Riyadh

At least three detainees held in al-Haer prison to the south of the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh were injured after fire erupted in it.

A Saudi security official asked to be anonymous said that the fire erupted in the prison following Friday's prayers, adding that most of the prisoners suffocated because they breathed smoke.

The prison's guards were able to control the fire before its spread. One official in the prison explained that the fire erupted after one prisoner set fire deliberately in his bed.

Worthy mentioning that some 67 prisoners were killed in a similar accident in al- Haer prison in September. The accident resulted in dismissing of the chairman of prisons department at the Saudi ministry of the interior.