Corpun file 14151

Arab News, Jeddah/Riyadh/Dhahran, 19 August 2004

Youths flogged for rioting

Staff Writer

JEDDAH, 19 August 2004 - Forty-two Saudi youths were given lashes and fined SR556 each for rioting, destroying cars and disturbing women in residential districts of Makkah, Al-Watan daily reported.

The Saudis spent 25 days in a reformatory before receiving the lashes.

Meanwhile, a court in Najran sentenced a Saudi to five months in jail and 200 lashes after being convicted of assaulting his Yemeni wife and stubbing out cigarettes on her body.

The action was taken after the woman complained to the Najran governor about her husband's rash behavior.

The woman had also sought the governor's help to compel the man to pay her reparations as well as to fulfil his financial obligations to their children.

According to the daily, the woman has been repatriated to Yemen with her children.

Copyright: Arab News © 2003 All rights reserved.