year-old Saudi man has been sentenced to one year in prison and 200 lashes of the whip for impersonating a uniformed military officer and performing “acts improper and against Islamic teachings” on a Bluetooth recording that circulated on the Internet. The ruling, issued by Jeddah's District Court on Tuesday, also includes a fine of SR5,000. Saudi Gazette previously reported the arrest of the man, whose name has not been disclosed, along with another person whose voice is heard on the recording and is believed to have played the role of cameraman and to have provided the lieutenant's uniform. Police acted after the recording began to circulate on the Internet and via mobile telephones earlier in the week. Following Tuesday's sentence, sources said the same individual had appeared before a Jeddah court in a previous incident of a similar nature but that his name was subsequently included on the list of offenders pardoned to mark the return of Crown Prince Sultan to the Kingdom at the end of last year. That case, according to the sources, involved him impersonating women, and the court requested that his father “take him to specialist doctors for treatment”. The judge also ordered the accused to memorize parts of the Qur'an. The man's father said his son had received treatment for “hormone deficiencies” and described him as also suffering from psychological difficulties. According to court sources, Tuesday's trial heard accusations punishable under Article Six of the Information Technology Law with up to five years in prison and fines of up to 3 million riyals. The father of the convicted said, however, that his son was “led into wearing the uniform and doing inappropriate things by the other person”. “He wouldn't have done it if it weren't for his mental problems,” he said, adding that his son's condition had been looked at by a private hospital. “He didn't know anything about the recording until he was arrested,” he added.
