Cairo: Saudi Arabia’s security authorities have started naming people arrested for sexual harassment in a step aimed to shame them and deter would-be offenders.
Police in the Saudi holy city of Mecca said they had arrested an Egyptian expatriate accused of harassing a woman and revealed his full name in a press statement in the first such announcement.
In the port city of Jeddah, police announced the arrest of a Saudi man for the same reason and likewise provided his full name. In both cases, police said the offenders were referred to prosecutors.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has sought to fight such offences and boost women’s rights as part of drastic reforms in the kingdom.
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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 victim renounced own 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.
The Saudi Human Rights Commission has said that in the crime of harassment, the victim’s renunciation of own right or failure to file a complaint does not deny the competent agencies the right to take the legal action they deem necessary to serve the common good.
The panel has defined harassment as any verbal expression, deed or motion carrying sexual insinuation made by a person towards another referring to the body and honour or harming modesty in any way, including modern technology methods.
