Manama: A court in Saudi Arabia has ordered the closing down of a beach resort for three years and sentenced its owner to two years in jail over debauchery.
The proprietor, a well-known businessman, has been additionally barred from leaving Saudi Arabia for two years following his release from prison.
The court in the Red Sea city of Jeddah also sentenced three accomplices, all Yemeni nationals, to two years, one year and seven months in jail, followed by their deportation from the kingdom.
Three more defendants, including the resort owner’s son, have fled Saudi Arabia, but the court said the security authorities in the kingdom had to contact the International Police (Interpol) to help with their arrest and repatriation.
The four defendants who were present at the trial challenged the verdict and the court accepted their appeal, Saudi daily Okaz reported on Wednesday.
The case was started after the prosecution commission ordered the arrest of the owner of the resort following a raid by members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the religious police, who acted on information that “unethical violations, including a mixed party,” were taking place there on the third day of Eid Al Fitr. A police force backed up the raid that netted several people, including the owner and some of his assistants as well as participants in the party.
The owner’s son who was managing the premises and his assistant, a Moroccan national, were able to flee.
Charges against the owner included setting up an area for prostitution and for acts of depravation.
The prosecution asked the court to impose the harshest punishment against the resort owner and his accomplices.
The court released the owner on bail and said his trial would resume at a later date.
