Virginity suspicion gets husband lashes in Saudi Arabia

Riyadh: A Saudi news website says a judge in the holy city of Makkah ordered a man to be lashed 20 times for accusing his spouse of not being a virgin when they married.

Al Sharq Online reported Monday that the Yemeni man was sentenced to be flogged in one session for not providing evidence to back up the accusation.

The website says the Yemeni man allegedly accused his wife in front of her father and other neighbourhood elders of lying about her virginity. He says she had been married and divorced before him.

As is common in some parts of the Arab world, he says the marriage contract stipulated she was a virgin at the time of their wedding.