Man who accused wife of adultery gets 80 lashes
Saudi court faults husband for failing to produce four witnesses to support his claim
Manama: A Saudi court has sentenced a husband to 80 lashes after he accused his wife of adultery, but failed to produce four witnesses as required by the Sharia law.
The court in the capital Riyadh also sentenced the husband’s agent who conveyed the accusation of adultery during the trial to the same sentence.
As a result of the ruling that states that their testament at the court was not credible and that they were subsequently false accusers, neither man will be allowed to take up any public position within the kingdom or submit any testimony on any matter.
According to the case documents, the husband had filed to obtain the custody of his children from his wife following their divorce more than one year ago.
During the trial, the husband asked a man to represent him when he could not make appear before the judge and to convey his views and arguments.
One argument that the husband used and the representative relayed to the judge was that his wife had committed adultery and as such she could not be a good mother to their children and would provide them a sound upbringing, calling for transferring their custody to him, Saudi daily Al Watan reported on Sunday.
The wife denied the charges and her lawyer sued the two men of wrongly accusing her of adultery.
The judge asked the husband and the agent who had supported the claim to produce four witnesses who could corroborate the accusation as required by the Sharia law.
The husband failed to bring the witnesses and the agent argued that he was merely relaying what he heard from him.
However, the judge said he was not convinced and ordered that each of the defendants be given 80 lashes for their unsubstantiated accusation.
Islam is very strict about accusing women of adultery without strong evidence that requires at least four eyewitnesses, and the penalty for slanderers is clearly stated in the Quran:
“And those who accuse chaste women and then do not produce four witnesses – lash them with eighty lashes and do not accept from them testimony ever after. And those are the defiantly disobedient.” – Quran 24:4
