A court in Jeddah has fined a woman for inciting animosity between a woman and her husband after the latter filed a case against her, local media reported.

The court also ordered the woman to sign a written pledge not to do it again.

The plaintiff, however, has called for a harsher penalty and urged the court to consider imprisoning and lashing the woman for the psychological trauma inflicted on him and his wife, a newspaper reported.

The husband filed the case at the District Court in Jeddah, where he accused his wife’s friend of urging her to be disobedient and ask for a divorce, a matter which destabilized relations between the couple, a source told the paper.

The wife reportedly confessed that her friend, the defendant, used to send her messages on WhatsApp urging her to rebel against her spouse.

The plaintiff showed the court parts of these messages as evidence, the paper said.

Rayyan Mufti, a lawyer and legal adviser, said sowing discord between man and wife is forbidden in Islam and that rulings in such cases vary depending on the strength of evidence presented to authorities.