Corpun file 5533

Associated Press, 16 April 2000

Nine Saudi Transvestites Jailed

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Nine young Saudi men have each been sentenced to more than 2,000 lashes and at least five years in prison for deviant sexual behavior, a police officer said Sunday.

A court in the western city of Qunfuda on Saturday sentenced five of the men to six years in prison and 2,600 lashes. The men are to be flogged 52 times in 50 sessions, the officer said on condition of anonymity.

The four other defendants were sentenced to five years and 2,400 lashes. They are to be flogged 48 times in 50 sessions.

There will be a pause of 15 days between each of the flogging sessions. Police started tailing the nine men after reports that they were acting strangely, the officer said. He said police found that they were dressing in women's clothes and engaging in deviant sexual behavior with each other.

He said the nine confessed to the charges.

The conservative kingdom, where women are not allowed to drive and must be covered head-to-toe in public, follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law. Courts routinely order hands amputated for theft, and public execution for murder, rape, sodomy and drug trafficking.

Human rights organizations have criticized those penalties. They say defendants do not receive fair trials and often do not have access to lawyers.

AP-NY-04-16-00 0901

Corpun file 5529

Reuters, 22 April 2000

Saudi teenage boys face flogging for pestering girls

DUBAI, April 22 (Reuters) - Saudi teenage boys face public flogging and prison sentences for loitering outside girls' schools, a Saudi newspaper reported on Saturday.

Al-Eqtisadiah reported that the prince of Medina ordered a committee be set up in the holy city to hand out strict punishment to the boys to limit what the newspaper called immoral behavior in the conservative Moslem kingdom.

The newspaper said the decision was taken after several complaints were filed from female students and parents about remarks made by the boys milling outside the schools.

London-based Amnesty International recently accused Saudi Arabia of "gross and systematic" human rights violations, charges which have been rejected by Saudi officials.

04:53 04-22-00