By Adnan Al-Shabrawi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — A man filed a lawsuit against three people following a feud that unfolded in a WhatsApp group.

The plaintiff is the main admin of the WhatsApp group where the defendants were co-admins. The plaintiff is accusing the defendants of overstepping their responsibilities in the group, posting obscene videos and images and verbally assaulting him.

A feud broke out between the parties, which led the rest of the members of the group to interfere to try calm the situation down.

The feud started after the defendants changed the image and status of the group into something the plaintiff found to be inappropriate. The plaintiff berated the defendants for their actions and they verbally assaulted him and threatened him in return. The plaintiff kicked the defendants out of the group and deleted their posts. He presented the deleted posts as evidence in court.

Former member of Public Prosecution and lawyer Saleh Al-Ghamdi said the case fell in the jurisdiction of the criminal court.

“The prosecution may investigate the incident and call upon all members of the group to verify the details. Posting obscene images and posts on social media is a violation of information protection act and could result in up to five years of imprisonment and a fine of SR3 million,” said Al-Ghamdi.

Legal consultant and lawyer Khalid Abu Rashid warned against cyber bullying and verbal assault on social media.

“The rate of cybercrimes through social media has increased among men and women alike. In this case, posting obscene images is a violation of public rights and verbally assaulting a person is a violation of private rights. Both violations can lead to imprisonment, fines and public lashing,” said Abu Rashid.