Saudi man awarded death sentence for sexual harassment

RIYADH - A judge in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a man to death for sexually harassing a woman — in what is believed to be the first verdict of its kind in the country.

According to a local Saudi news reports Saturday, a judge in the town of Arar found the man guilty of trying to blackmail the woman with intimate pictures of herself.

The woman, who was a government employee, allegedly complained several times to the Virtue Police, a force tasked with enforcing Islamic Sharia law as defined by the government. Police then arrested the man as he tried to harass her at her place of work.

The accused man has 40 days from the date of the verdict to appeal the case.

Meanwhile, another judge in Saudi Arabia sentenced a man this week to four months in prison, 140 lashes and fined him 2,000 riyals (about $533) for defaming two men on the internet by suggesting they were promiscuous. This led to slander against their family names as well, according to the court.

Saudi Arabia has been widely criticised by international groups for its interpretation of Islamic Sharia law and for its application of punishment in criminal cases.