Corpun file 17597
Arab News, Jeddah/Riyadh/Dhahran, 14 April 2006
Young Man Faces Lashing
JEDDAH, 14 April 2006 -- A Hail court handed down on Wednesday a sentence of 500 lashes and six months in jail to a youth on charges of falling prostrate before a dancer in a musical program held in a rest house in Hail seven months ago, Al-Watan newspaper reported yesterday.
The punishment will be given in front of two secondary schools and a mosque in the city. The prostration was recorded by a mobile phone camera and posted on a website. Several visitors to the site demanded the punishment for the youth who prostrated before the dancer.
Copyright: Arab News © 2003 All rights reserved.
Corpun file 17596
Arab News, Jeddah/Riyadh/Dhahran, 17 April 2006
Court Sentences Unruly Juvenile to 40 Lashes
MAKKAH, 17 April 2006 -- A local court in Makkah sentenced a 15-year-old boy to two months in a juvenile detention center and 40 lashes for bad behavior with his parents, Okaz reported. The parents lodged a complaint in the court saying that the juvenile did not listen to their instructions and stayed out late at night. He stayed in the company of people with a bad reputation and also verbally abused his parents.
Copyright: Arab News © 2003 All rights reserved.
Corpun file 17603
Khaleej Times, Dubai, UAE, 18 April 2006
Saudi flees to escape lashing for employing women
RIYADH - A restaurant owner sentenced to 90 lashes by a Saudi Islamic court for employing two women has left the country to escape flogging, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Nabil Al Ramadan was sentenced to 90 lashes last month by a court in Al Qatif in the oil-rich Eastern Province on charges of violating morality by hiring the two women in August 2004, the English-language Arab News said.
The paper quoted Ramadan as saying by telephone from an undisclosed location that he chose to leave quickly because he feared that the swift ruling -- announced within a quarter of an hour in court and in the absence of a lawyer -- could mean the punishment would be meted out promptly.
The verdict "is an insult to me as a human being. In order to avoid this situation I preferred to travel before the application of the sentence," he was quoted as saying.
The girls worked for four hours only on a single day before authorities closed down the restaurant, Arab News said.
Women in ultra-conservative Muslim Saudi Arabia are subject to a host of restrictions and barred from mixing in public with males other than immediate relatives.
The government is opening up new work sectors for women as part of a slow process of reform, but they remain excluded from many jobs.
© 2006 Khaleej Times All Rights Reserved.
