Harassment of women is on the rise in Saudi Arabia, at a time when authorities are doing their best to confront abusers and hold them accountable, and issue frequent warnings, along with a strict penal code to discourage them.
In the latest example, Saudi authorities announced on Saturday the arrest of 3 citizens for harassing a woman in a public place.
The Saudi public security account on Twitter said Riyadh police arrested the three people and took legal measures against them and referred them to prosecution.
Riyadh police arrest 3 people for molesting a woman in a public place. pic.twitter.com/fEKwCZWKEA
– Public security (@security_gov) October 29, 2022
The incident came after a video of the famous Saudi woman on social media, Lian Abdullah, talking about cases of harassment.
Males use these (patriarchal weapons) harassment, rape and other types of assaults on women in order to control and keep them locked up in the home, or keep them out of public space.
– You told me Saudi Arabia developed, so where are the deterrent laws? 🤔
harassed by #Lian_Abdullah On the Boulevard!
– .. (@maya_agno) October 29, 2022
The harassment incidents occurred during the meetings that the Lebanese singer, Haifa Wehbe, witnessed during the Riyadh season.
#Operation_massage #Riyadh_Boulevard #Riyadh_Season 2022 The #HaifaWehbe party pic.twitter.com/wriQsWsBUh
– butefol maxi (@ bineidan501) October 29, 2022
Punishment for harassment
Penalties for harassers vary and counsel, Rabab Al-Moabi, says “the punishment for the harasser is imprisonment of up to two years and a fine of up to 100,000 riyals ($ 26,000), or one of these.”
In his interview with the official Saudi channel Al-Ekhbariya, Al-Muabi explained that these sanctions vary and affect all those who “have committed the crime of harassment, the instigator of harassment, the one who agrees with the harasser and the one who that helps harassment. “
Video | Legal Counsel Rabab Al-Moabi: The penalty for the harasser is imprisonment of up to two years and a fine of up to 100,000 or one of them#Ninth_Bollettin#news pic.twitter.com/E1FPVKNj4G
– News channel (@alekhbariyatv) October 29, 2022
According to the Saudi Laws Group, there is a system to combat the crime of harassment and it follows the internal security, marital status and criminal systems.
and states Article 6 of the anti-harassment law In Saudi Arabia, issued in 2018, “anyone who commits a crime of harassment is punished with imprisonment not exceeding two years and a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand riyals, or one of these two penalties”.
According to the system, “the penalty for the offense of harassment is imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding three hundred thousand riyals (approximately $ 90,000), or one of these two penalties, in the case of recidivism or if the offense is associated with one of the following: The victim is a child or a person with special needs.
Furthermore, this penalty applies “if the offender has direct or indirect authority over the victim, and if the offense took place in a workplace, study, hospitalization or care, and if the offender is the victim are of the same sex, and if the victim is asleep or unconscious, or the like, or if the crime occurred in any of the crises, disasters or accidents ”.
Warning to harassers
Last September, the Saudi prosecutor warned of the crime of harassment and promised to punish the perpetrators.
And he said in a Twitter post: “Anyone who incites another, or agrees with him, or helps him in any way, to commit a crime of harassment, is punished with the penalty for the crime, and anyone who tries committing such a crime is punished with no more than half the upper limit of the penalty prescribed for it “.
Anyone who incites another, agrees with him, or helps him in any way to commit a crime of harassment is punished. The penalty foreseen for the offense, and whoever attempts to commit this offense, is punished with no more than half of the maximum penalty foreseen for it.#Public accusation pic.twitter.com/EAHHhVQ2xs
– Public Prosecutor (@bip_ksa) September 19, 2022
Warnings from the Saudi Prosecutor’s Office came ahead of the celebrations of the Kingdom of National Day, corresponding to September 23, which sees festive demonstrations across Saudi Arabia.
Cases of harassment usually appear in Saudi National Day celebrations. Last year, National Day celebrations in Saudi Arabia witnessed a series of incidents of harassment.
In one of the videos, a young man appeared harassing a girl who had stepped out of the window of a Saudi flag hoisted car as he approached her and filmed her trying to keep him away from her.
This is a clear violation of the law and this woman and the car owner must be punished, just as every outlaw is punished and put on a list of videos. “#arrested“!
In general (this is individual behavior that does not represent all Saudi women) and it is the same justification used to cover up the mistakes of (salon group members)
⭕️ The law has its respect and prestige, applying it ⭕️ pic.twitter.com/dtRlz5LATz– Ibrahim Al-Munif (@ altamimi14) September 24, 2021
Another clip showed young men trying to harass a veiled woman who was sitting in her car.
Harassment of women, God is enough for them # Saudi_ha_dar_na_91 pic.twitter.com/HEkNVdFvQi
– Comedy episodes without rights (@ yaseen054000) September 23, 2021
What is harassment?
A crime of harassment means any statement, act or gesture with a sexual connotation, made by a person towards another person, which touches their body or honor or damages their modesty by any means, including modern technology. , as described in the first article of the Saudi anti-harassment system.
In May 2018, Saudi Arabia announced the anti-harassment crime system with a royal decree issued by the Saudi monarch, Salman bin Abdulaziz, with the aim of “fighting the crime of harassment and preventing its occurrence by applying punishment to its authors and protecting the victim, in order to preserve the privacy, dignity and personal freedom of the individual it guaranteed. ”Provisions and regulations of the Islamic Sharia.
