A motorist convicted of driving through a red light causing the deaths of three people has had his sentence increased to seven years in prison and 1,200 lashes of the whip by a court in Najran. The new ruling is added to the September 2008 sentence from the Commission for Traffic Penalties in Najran imprisoning the guilty party for one year and fining him SR10,000. The incident occurred at a junction in Najran at the end of July 2008 and resulted in the death of three persons under the age of 30, among them Abdullah Al-Suquor, whose father Qainan brought the objection to the 2008 ruling. “I raised my objection to the first court ruling with the governorate and lodged another with the former Najran Police chief who opened an investigation,” Qainan Al-Suquor said. “The governorate contacted the Ministry of Interior and the Shariah Courts and the case went to the District Court in Najran.” Al-Suqour said he had dropped his demand for the death penalty or 10 years' prison in the light of the new sentence.
