The woman complained to the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) about four month ago that she was being harassed.

Haia officers made arrangements with the woman and caught the officer with her in a furnished apartment. The officer was charged with blackmailing and sentenced to six years imprisonment, 500 whiplashes and a SR300,000 fine.

The newspaper said the woman, identified only by her first initials G.T, was in her 30s and is now in the general prison in Taif on charges of defamation. "I am now paying the price for seeking help," she told Al-Watan newspaper.

She said she was subpoenaed by the General Prosecution and Investigations Commission for questioning on charges that she had circulated "improper" pictures of the officer to a number of his colleagues and also to the Haia.

"I used these pictures as evidence of his harassment. How can I be accused of defamation when it was him who sent these pictures to me?" she asked.

She said she complained to the officer's sister that he was annoying her but she was always told that she knew where the Haia office was. The woman reportedly admitted she had a relationship with the officer after she was divorced by her husband and he promised to marry her.

She said her family refused to accept him and told her to go back to her ex-husband who had asked her several times to come back to him.

She said she returned to her husband about seven years ago but the problems continued and he left home.

The woman said the officer did not leave her alone after the ex-husband left again.

"The officer started to come to my house and threaten me and sent me messages on my mobile. One day he sent me pornographic pictures at four in the morning. I threatened him that if he did this again I would send the pictures to his father," she said.

The woman said she used to erase his messages for fear that one of her sons might access them.