Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — A lawyer was sentenced to 30 days in prison and 130 lashes for making a racist slur against his colleague in court.

The victim filed a lawsuit against his lawyer colleague claiming that he had used racist and offensive language toward him in court.

The plaintiff submitted a memorandum written by the court where the incident took place confirming the allegations. The plaintiff also had two witnesses to support his claim.

The public prosecutor had previously brought a lawsuit against the same defendant for making racist remarks against his colleague and being disrespectful to the court.

The defendant responded to that lawsuit by saying that the public prosecutor does not have the authority to file a complaint on behalf of another lawyer and that the entire case was put together to besmirch his reputation. The judge ruled in the defendant’s favor due to lack of evidence.

The public prosecutor and the plaintiff came back to the court with evidence of the incident supported by documents from the court where the incident took place. The two witnesses who signed the memorandum were employees of the court. The defendant claimed that the memorandum was unjust because one of the witnesses belonged to the tribe of the plaintiff, rendering his testimony biased.

The recriminations continued for 16 months and ended up in the judge asking the plaintiff to swear on the Qur›an that his accusations were true.

The judge ruled in favor of the plaintiff this time sentencing the defendant to 70 lashes for violating public rights and 60 lashes for violating private rights. The defendant was also sentenced to one month in prison.

The judge ordered him to sign a pledge to never disrespect the court again. The defendant filed an appeal at the Court of Appeals but the court rejected his appeal and upheld the verdict of the lower court.