MAKKAH, 12 June 2006 — A court in Makkah on Saturday sentenced two youths to five years hard labor and 150 lashes each for removing a woman’s abaya at a shopping mall in Makkah, press reports said yesterday.
Police said one of the youths, who worked in the shopping complex, encouraged the other to strip the young woman of her abaya. The woman complained to local police who immediately arrested the suspects.
The court handed down the relatively harsh punishments to the two men after establishing the truth of the charges brought against them.
Rapist Jailed
In another case, the court sentenced a man to five years in jail and 3,000 lashes for raping a young woman in a deserted building in the Rusaifa district of Makkah.
According to the police, the rapist, who was drunk at the time of the assault, was caught with help from the victim’s father.
