Saudi woman sentenced to 70 lashes for insulting man on Whatsapp

E-Paper | April 30, 2026

MANAMA: A court in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday sentenced a woman to 70 lashes and a fine of 20,000 Saudi Riyals (SR) for insulting a man on instant-messaging application WhatsApp, said a report published on Gulf News.

According to a source at the criminal court in Al Qatif, the court announced the verdict after it transpired that the 32-year-old woman was guilty of tarnishing the reputation of the plaintiff on WhatsApp, local daily Okaz has reported on Monday.

The complainant filed the suit after an argument with the woman. The source did not disclose the nature of the disagreement between the two; however, the defendant admitted she had insulted the man but reportedly rejected the court ruling.

Article Three of the Saudi Anti-Cyber Crime Law states that whoever defames or inflicts damage upon others through various information technology devices "shall be subject to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year and a fine not exceeding SR500,000 or to either punishment."

In another incident in July 2014, two women in Jeddah were sentenced to 20 lashes and 10 days in jail for insulting each other on WhatsApp.

The case reached court after one of the women sued the other for allegedly slandering her reputation and insulting her. The judge had issued the verdict after viewing the exchange of messages between the two women who are reportedly cousins.

The judge had sought to end the strife between the two cousins, however neither wanted to apologise.

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MASTER OF ETHICS

Mar 17, 2015 12:56pm

This is how you people treat and respect a lady. She may be wrong But you too are twice wrong. Shame shame and shame.

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Kamal Gupta

Mar 17, 2015 01:28pm

Barbarians.

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Sheikh Bani AL-Sadr Qureshi

Mar 17, 2015 01:28pm

this sentence is so Bizarre. to think we are living in 2015 and not 215.

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Einstein Babar

Mar 17, 2015 01:44pm

Hold your horses people. There is a punishment for every crime and the country should decide their laws. Defaming somebody without reason is a serious crime and I think this punishment is a concession given to that lady as she is a woman otherwise for man it should be more harder

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cmvt

Mar 17, 2015 01:52pm

@Einstein Babar What defaming? WhatsApp is not public communication. Are you are saying it is a crime to insult others in private conversation? Saudi lawmakers are bunch of pussiees. There i said it, arrest me

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messi

Mar 17, 2015 02:10pm

@MASTER OF ETHICS had it been other way round and a guy would had done that with a girl, you would had agreed with punishment. if women want equality than they should be treated equally in every forum.

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Dr Mazhar

Mar 17, 2015 02:25pm

Is it 21st century

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Chill irfan

Mar 17, 2015 02:45pm

@Einstein Babar There is no reference to Whatsapp in Sharia !!!!! please don't bring Sharia law into everything !!!

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Saf

Mar 17, 2015 02:56pm

Arabs not only they give themselves a bad name but they end up giving the whole of Islam a bad name. People need to highlight most of these rules are arab made and not from Islam.

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Saudiee

Mar 17, 2015 03:18pm

@MASTER OF ETHICS Decide 1st you want the women to be treadted equal to men or want to excuse them because they are medically different...why are you so confused about this.... Once you are done then go shaming around your self MoE....

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Syed Ganga Din

Mar 17, 2015 03:20pm

@Einstein Babar : Issue of co called "defamation" has gone too far. If I call you an "idiot" for writing a non-sensical comment, that would be defamation? I don't think so, however if your reputation suffers in such a way that you lose your job, then you may have a case.

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Ali Rathore

Mar 17, 2015 03:25pm

@cmvt its a crime when one party actually filed a case.

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H.A

Mar 17, 2015 04:11pm

This is incomplete news... And living in 21st century doesn't give anyone license to insult other people. Also we dnt knw what level of insult was it, probably accusing someone of adultery because yes that's a big offense. Just saying that we should think out of the box before making any sort of comments especially on the basis of limited knowledge and incomplete information. Adios

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ilyas

Mar 17, 2015 04:13pm

They also punished a woman on behalf of another woman. Its high time we mind our manners and learn to respect each other. However, the punishment is very high given that its private conversation. Absence (or its true implementation) of this law in Pakistan can be seen from the loads and loads of character assassination volleys we daily witness in our political circles. We even don't realize what is supposed to be off limit should remain off limit. We don't spare each other's religious beliefs, personal and family lies, social standing, you just name it.

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Zahid Karim

Mar 17, 2015 04:39pm

@cmvt Why dont you pack your bags and say this when you're living in Saudi Arabia. Every country has right to have their own laws. Enough of globalisation!

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Zahid Karim

Mar 17, 2015 04:40pm

@Saf Brother practice Islam and Live Islam. Dont worry about others and try to fit Islam as per West's drawn out shape. After all, we will be answerable as individuals.

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Haris

Mar 17, 2015 04:56pm

Whosoever break law, will be treat according to the law. If there is a law against every crime then why you people criticize them and saying it barbarous.

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haris

Mar 17, 2015 04:57pm

@Saf I think the Article 3 of Cyber Crime Saudi Arabia is NOT extracted from any Islamic resources. It's a man-made law which obviously in this case is horrendous. but does it fair to relate with Islam? NO not at all. please avoid associating Islam with everything happening in Saudia Arabia. do we always associate all Buddhist in the World after the wrongdoings of Buddhists in Myanmar?

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Raja Farhat Abbas

Mar 17, 2015 06:25pm

@Chill irfan Sharia means law for your information.!

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Amber

Mar 17, 2015 07:12pm

I'm sorry but is this a joke? They wouldn't apologise to each other? How interfering. Arabs have absolutely no limit to wasting time.

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Ahmed

Mar 17, 2015 07:27pm

At least this nation has realized that the Human being deserve some respect. But I am afraid, Humans, particularly the ones who come from south Asia are treated with no respect and are humiliated as a norm in this society. How about Justice to them?

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Sandip Bhattacharya

Mar 17, 2015 10:45pm

@cmvt Well said!

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Manjeet kocchar

Mar 18, 2015 09:10am

I will never even cross the air space of This country

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Manjeet kocchar

Mar 18, 2015 09:13am

@Amber oil money has got them material riches but intellectually they remain what they were in the beginning of their evolution

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