Saeed Al-Suraihi Okaz The summary court in Qatif sentenced a man who slapped his wife on the face to 10 days' imprisonment and 30 whip lashes. The court should have said in its verdict that the ruling was made especially harsh to deter other men from being cruel to their wives. It should have also allowed the wife to attend the application of the whip lashes. The court ruling was not “qisas” (an eye-for-an-eye punishment), otherwise it would have asked the woman to slap her husband on the face in retaliation. It was “taazeer” (discretionary), which was very close to being fair. In “taazeer” cases, punishments are left to the discretion of the judge who will assess the magnitude of the crime. The Qatif court ruling cannot be a standard for other judges to depend on while sentencing men who slap their wives. If this case was given to another judge, he might have issued a different verdict. He might just reprimand the man and ask the wife not to push him too far. The cases of men beating their wives are filling the appointments of the courts. The rulings on them differ from one court to another. This necessitates the drafting of a legal code to unify the rulings on such cases so that if they are not identical, they will at least be similar.
