Three Al-Ahsa men have been fined SR10,000 each for taking pictures of people in a public area without their permission.
The fines were imposed by a committee of the Ministry of Information, on the recommendation of Al-Ahsa Gov. Prince Badr bin Muhammad Al-Jalawi.
Their fines will be paid to the state treasury. The men have 30 days to appeal the verdict.
However, bloggers and writers on social networking sites say that the money should be paid to those who had their privacy violated, according to reports.
“That is not fair,” a blogger calling himself Mister Mifak, wrote. “They should pay the fines to the people they photographed without their permission.”
Another blogger, Respectful Visitor, said that the court ruling “did not make sense.”
“Someone files a complaint and the fine goes to the treasury. It is like in football when a player is assaulted by another player and the fine goes to the treasury of a committee. The logical situation is to give the financial compensation to the person who was abused and therefore complained,” the blogger wrote.
Aref Al-Mutairi wrote that the ruling was “unfair” because the “victims do not get any compensation.”
Another writer, Five Stars, urged Saudis to be more careful when taking pictures to avoid paying fines to the treasury. “About three-quarters of the Saudi people use their mobile phones to take pictures, especially of landscapes,” the blogger wrote. “Now they have to be careful because they might run into trouble if someone reports them to the police.”
Men fined SR10,000 for taking pictures
