The Makkah Court of Cassation has overturned a Najran general court's total sentence of over three years in prison and 1,195 lashes for five Asian expatriates convicted of khalwa “illegal seclusion” and suspected of having unlawful sex. The Court of Cassation described the sentence as “lenient” and wants harsher punishment. The expatriates were arrested last Ramadan (September) when the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the Hai'a, acting on a tip-off, raided a house in Al-Faisaliya District in Najran suspected of being a brothel. The Hai'a arrested four Asian men including the suspected ringleader and a woman who was not legally-related to them. The woman was found to be working at women's dressmaker's shop. During the trial, the ringleader and the woman were each sentenced to one-and-a-half years in prison and 500 lashes each. The three men were sentenced to one month in prison and 65 lashes each.
