“I will move the court of appeals, asking for the judge who made this ruling to be replaced,” their lawyer Muhammad Siraj Jameel told Arab News.

Siraj did not identify the family, but said they were holding the party on the roof of their apartment building when it was allegedly discovered that the neighbor was filming the women.

“They asked him to give the film back but he refused. A fight subsequently erupted when the accused took out a pistol and fired a number of bullets,” Jameel said.

The lawyer said the family took the neighbor to court, but the judge acquitted him due to a lack of evidence.

“We rejected the verdict but the judge refused to reconsider the case. We have 20 witnesses who saw the neighbor filming the women and we will go to the court of appeals,” he said.