Manama: A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced 11 defendants to prison terms ranging from two months to one year after they were arrested in a wild party in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
The defendants – three Saudi women, three Moroccan women, three Saudi men and two Indian men- will also be given between 80 and 300 lashes, the court said in its final ruling.
An earlier court verdict of jail terms ranging from eight days to 14 months and 50 to 150 lashes was challenged by the court of appeals, saying it was too lenient, Saudi daily Okaz reported on Tuesday.
The party revelers were arrested after members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice heard loud music coming from a villa on the Jeddah Corniche and raided the place.
The suspects were using drugs and drinking alcohol as they partied, and some of the women fiercely resisted their arrest, the daily reported.
The public prosecutor charged them with possessing and taking drugs, holding a wild party, possessing immoral pictures and clips, and resisting arrest, and requested severe punishments and the confiscation of their mobile telephones.
Reactions by the defendants varied between total denial and admission of the charges, the daily added.
The court held five sessions before pronouncing its final verdict.
