Saudi woman sentenced to 70 lashes for allegedly insulting man on WhatsApp
In a separate case, a judge allowed a man to divorce his wife after she told him she prayed 'to be patient enough to put up' with him on the messaging service
A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a woman to 70 lashes after she allegedly insulted a man on the messaging service WhatsApp.
The 32-year-old, who has not been named, admitted to insulting the man but also refuted the verdict, according to reports in GulfNews.com and other local media.
The nature of their argument was unclear but she was found guilty of tarnishing the reputation of the complainant through the application, reported the Okaz newspaper who also said she was fined around £3,600 for the offense.
In a separate case, another Saudi judge allowed a man to divorce his wife after she told him that she prayed “to be patient enough to put up” with him in a WhatsApp message, the Al-Hayat newspaper reported.
The husband is said to have claimed that the message was “inappropriate.”
They are not the first to fall foul of the Saudi Anti-Cyber Crime Law, as in July last year two women in the city of Jeddah were sentenced to 10-days in jail and 20 lashes for insulting each other on WhatsApp.
A judge issued the verdict after reading the messages exchanged between the the women who were reportedly cousins.
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