Cairo: Saudi security authorities have named and shamed a total of 11 males in connection with harassment offences over the past month to deter would-be offenders.
On April 12, the kingdom began identifying harassment offenders in public statements. Since then, eleven offenders have been named in different parts of the kingdom, according to a media tally.
They included seven expatriates and four Saudis in the cities of Medina, Mecca, Riyadh, Asir, the Eastern Province, Jeddah and Tabuk.
The first-name-to-shame cases were made public in April when Police said they had arrested an Egyptian expatriate and a Saudi citizen in two separate cities, accused of harassing women. Their full names were revealed in the first such announcements.
The latest announcement was made on May 14 when police named a Saudi man accused of harassing two women in Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has sought to fight such offences and boost women’s rights as part of drastic reforms in the kingdom.
Last month, a Saudi court handed down a five-year jail sentence to an expatriate after he was convicted of harassing a woman, prosecutors said.
The convict, whose nationality was not given, was also ordered to pay a fine of SR150,000. Prosecutors did not say when or where the harassment incident had happened.
Penalties toughened
Under Saudi law, sexual harassment is punishable by up to two years in prison and a maximum fine of SR100,000 or one of both acts. Penalties are toughened to up to five years in prison and a fine of SR300,000 in case of repetition or when the act is committed in public.
Saudi authorities have said legal punishment against sex harassment is irreversible even if the victims renounced their right or did not file a legal complaint.
If the victim is a child, a person with special needs, or has been subjected to the act while sleeping or unconscious, the crime is punishable by up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of SR300,000 or one of both penalties.
