Manama: Police in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province said that the young men who were arrested last year for harassment have been flogged inside the mall where they verbally abused a group of girls.
“Regarding the case of the inappropriate unacceptable behaviour by a group of young men towards a number of girls at a shopping mall in the Eastern Province, all the legal procedures have been followed,” Abdul Aziz Al Harbi, the spokesperson for the Eastern Province police, said. “The lashing sentence by the court has been recently carried out inside the mall in Dhahran,” he said, quoted by local news site Sabq on Tuesday.
The spokesperson added that the police would not tolerate negative behaviours and would keep its zero tolerance policy towards any inappropriate attitude.
“We urge all young men and women to abide by public morals and respect for our religion and for the traditions of the homeland,” he said.
The young men were arrested in October after a video clip of their verbal confrontation with the girls at the mall parking lot went viral on social networks.
The court issued jail sentences of between one month and five months and lashes to be carried out at the mall.
The video clip showing a group of young men terrifying the young girls wearing black abayas, the traditional cloak worn by women in the Gulf, and headscarves triggered a wave of condemnation in the country and prompted calls for stringent action against the young men.
Several internet users said that the authorities should be strict in dealing with public harassment. Saudi Arabia does not have explicit anti-harassment laws and sentences are usually based on the discretion of the court judges.
According to a media report published last year, 2,797 harassment cases against women were reported in 2012.
Around 60 per cent of the offenders were Saudis while the remaining 40 per cent were foreigners living in the kingdom.
The capital Riyadh topped the list with 650 cases, ahead of the Red Sea port city of Jeddah with 250 and the Eastern Province with 210.
