Corpun file 18940

The Peninsula, Doha, 2 February 2007

Expat sentenced to 40 lashes

DOHA • An Arab expatriate accused of impersonating a police officer and stealing has been acquitted by the Criminal Court of both charges. However, he was found guilty of drinking and sentenced to 40 lashes and subsequent deportation.

The verdict was delivered by Judge Maamoun Hamoud, a report in an Arabic daily said.

Two witnesses told the court the man had come to their house posing as an undercover police officer and asked for their identification. He then entered the house and picked up a child's bag, after which the pair took it from him and summoned police.

The police filed a report and turned the matter over to the Public Prosecution, which in turn asked the court to indict the accused.

However, in court, the man denied all charges but admitted to having been drinking.

© 2001 The Peninsula. All Rights Reserved.

Corpun file 18944

Gulf Times, Doha, 20 February 2007

99 lashes for 'impregnating woman out of wedlock'

By Staff Reporter

A DOHA court has awarded one year in prison to a 36-year-old Pakistani man for impregnating a 25-year-old Iranian woman out of wedlock.

The court also ordered him to be lashed 99 times for 'adultery' but the judge cleared him of rape charges "for lack of evidence".

The man is currently in jail and the court said the period spent in prison would be deducted from his sentence.

According to the prosecution, the man was employed as a driver in the plaintiff's house.

She claimed that he lured her to a garage and "raped" her in May 2005.

The case took a turn in December when the lawyer for the accused told the court that "the couple" was married .

The marriage, arranged by the lawyer, created a new situation in the trial as the law cannot force a woman to testify against her husband.

Judge Manon Hamour said the case was unique that the woman and her mother moved "from bitter hostility to becoming a family".

He said that the marriage proved that the accused was the father of the baby.

The judge also said that the man went with the woman and her mother to the hospital, introduced himself as the father and even paid the hospital bill, which was another indication that he was the father of the "illegitimate" child.

"On the day of the crime, they were not married and therefore, the man cannot escape punishment," the judge ruled.

On the woman's status, a legal source said that the court could not punish her since no formal complaint was filed against her. The woman gave birth in January 2006 and the baby was found abandoned in a basket by a jogger on the Corniche.

A court source told Gulf Times that the judge did not order deportation of the convict to protect the "family" and their 13-month-old child. He said that the prosecution may charge the woman with endangering the life of her baby, but no recommendation was issued in this regard by the court.