Cairo: A girl was arrested after she forcibly hugged a singer at a concert in the Saudi city of Ta’if, police said on Saturday.
Audience at the concert of Saudi-Iraqi singer Majid Al Mohandes was astonished on Friday night when the girl stormed the stage and hugged the celebrated entertainer.
The offender was arrested and placed in a girl care institution and will be referred to prosecution, a police spokesman said, according to Saudi news site Sabq.
“The girl had committed a deed incriminated in the anti-harassment act,” the official added, referring to a law adopted in the kingdom in May.
If convicted, the girl could face up to two years in jail and a fine of 100,000 Saudi riyals, according to the Saudi newspaper Okaz. Neither the name nor age of the girl was disclosed.
A video went viral online purportedly showing a girl wearing a black head-to-toe veil rushing to the stage where Al Mohandes was performing and hugging him before his bodyguards took her away. The concert was part of a famous Saudi festival known as Okaz Souq.
The girl’s behavior has triggered an outcry on social media.
In recent months, celebrities have given live performances in Saudi Arabia as the country is carrying out sweeping social and economic reforms championed by the young Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. Saudi Arabia has unveiled the 2030 Vision, an ambitious plan aimed at diversifying the economy of the oil-producing kingdom.
